Strictly Business
by Agustina Kazuyo
Summary: Dr. Sesshomaru Taisho's job leaves no time to frolick around wooing women. An escort is in order. When Higurashi, a student in need of money, storms into his life, they both end up tangled. In a world where interspecies relationships are frowned upon, they both fight their way through social prejudice, all the while advancing in Sesshomaru's star research. [AU][SESSxKAG][PG-18]
1. Strictly Professional

In the night the road stretched far and dark,  
blending with the moonless horizon, and I realized  
anything outside the realm of my front lights  
was unknown to me. I realized,  
I was floating in the vast nothingness,  
all I knew was so insignificant.  
And I never felt more peace or fear  
than in that moment.

And then, she found me.  
And suddenly I wasn't scared anymore.

 _Isaac Maul Tegin_

* * *

 _ **October the 3rd, Year One**_

 **Chapter One: Strictly Professional**

He pressed the bridge of his nose, tired and trying to get rid of the massive headache that was threatening to curse him.

His assistant sighed too. It was almost two in the morning, but the samples needed constant monitoring and his boss was a control freak who wanted to supervise the process himself.

"This is not working," the taiyoukai growled, ready to rip anyone to shreds just to work off some frustration.

"The sample seems to be eating away the ovum."

"There _has_ to be a way…"

The subordinate nodded quickly, his glasses threatening to fall off his nose. "If there is, we'll find it, don't worry doctor. We might just need a more suitable donor."

His nostrils flared and he walked away, grabbing his coat in passing.

The lab assistant huffed, knowing it was up to him to get everything clean for the next shift before going home.

* * *

Back in his car, Sesshomaru allowed his anger some outlet, snarling while driving away from the University lab. His eyes bled red, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He was furious. Why wasn't anything working out as it should? They had spent a ridiculous amount of money in developing the protein chain that should…

"Agh!" He barked, pulling over to cool down his ire. He ran a hand up his forehead, brushing his braided hair back, every single silver strand in place.

This couldn't do. He was much too frustrated and furious to work it off like nothing.

He needed _her_.

Quickly, he procured his phone from his pocket, his thumb brushing the screen, dialing a number he knew by heart, but didn't have in his contacts. He hated having to go through an intermediary to be allowed to see her.

A voice answered on the other side, perky and professional, especially attentive after recognizing the number of their star regular costumer. "Good evening, Mr. Taisho. What can we do for you?"

His command was feral and impatient. "Send Higurashi," was all he growled before ending the call.

He retook his route, the building crowned by his penthouse visible in the distance, shining like a testament to his power.

He shook his head. He knew she didn't like it when he was tense, so he tried to relax. It would serve well to his purposes if they could skip the whole 'how was your day, do you want to talk about it' thing and jump to when he fucked her brains out and they both forgot about the rest of the world.

* * *

Kagome's phone rang and she snatched it immediately. It was Wednesday, and she knew he would call for her, one reason or another. She yawned before sliding her fingertip across the screen to take the call.

"Damn, he was on short notice today," the male voice said, laughter in his tone. "I was shocked he hadn't called yet."

Kagome smiled. "He always does. I've got my clothes ready; I just need to work on my hair and make-up."

"That sure, eh?"

"Boss… he _always_ calls… An all-nighter? "

"He growled at me on the phone! I'm guessing he'll keep you busy."

Kagome giggled. "Alright, I'll get to it. Call me in the morning, but not too early."

"Will do, doll. The car will be there in ten minutes, so be ready."

Miroku hung up. That blue eyed beauty was a goldmine, and the addicted taiyoukai had a wallet too fat for his own good. It was a win-win for everyone, and it made him very happy.

On the other side of the line, she stretched and yawned again, stirring completely from her nap. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, looking at herself in the mirror.

How long had it been?

She had tried. She really had, until she realized no one in the world gave a fuck if she was trying.

After a whole year of working full time at night in fast food, the money hadn't been enough. She was kicked out of school because what she made didn't ensure enough stability to even take a loan. She might as well have been homeless at that point, considering she didn't even spend money in buying food anymore.

The first guy had offered twenty bucks for a blowjob. It was a catcall, actually, but when her blue eyes darted at him, like a deer caught in the headlights, the man knew that petite beauty needed money more than she needed her dignity. And he insisted, luring her with the offer of a warm meal.

The first guy had been in a car. He came in her mouth and she barely managed to hold in the need to vomit as he tossed the money at her. She exited the vehicle and coughed and puked, crying.

Funny. The first thing she had in her stomach in two whole days and it was semen.

But she kept the crumpled bill tight against her beating heart. She entered a 24-7 store and purchased mouthwash, ignoring the odd look the cashier was giving her.

She decided she would never take the chance again. The dude from the car could have killed her or worse. If she was going to walk this path, she would do it right.

She worked as a model during half a session. She realized immediately it would lead to porn and she couldn't bring herself to do it. In that car, no one else in the world knew what she had done. If there were pictures for everyone to see, maybe even her family would find them some day.

Oh, her family. Of course she wasn't in speaking terms with them. Her mom would never have allowed her only daughter to be cold and hungry. She couldn't stop thinking about her little brother, who should be fourteen now. He definitely watched porn, like any other male teenager with access to a computer and surrounded by adults oblivious to technology. Her heart constricted at the thought that there could be any compromising pictures of her for him to see.

The guy ordering the photo-shoot, however, had found her too good to pass when seeing the few pictures she had taken. He invited her to a business meeting, explaining what his company did and didn't. When he spoke the magical words 'it's your call', he knew he had her.

And so, Kagome became an escort.

She knew it was still risky, that most men hired a girl with the idea of getting lucky after the big date, but she held her ground. Kisses, groping, handjobs, blowjobs, they were occupational hazards. But after six months of, basically, being a high class whore, she was still a virgin.

That, until Sesshomaru came along, of course.

She smiled at herself in the mirror, checking if her eyeliner was on point before looking at her clock. She took the little purse where she kept The Six Essentials, before heading down the hall to the elevator.

She made it just on time. The car stopped in front of her building and she slipped in, greeted by the chauffer.

She prayed he had called before making it home. He hated waiting, and although she didn't mind it when he got aggressive, she also knew it made him want to cuddle afterwards sometimes.

She was not paid to cuddle.

* * *

When the doorbell rang, he didn't even bother talking through the intercom. He pressed a button, and she was on her way up in the silver elevator.

He left the front door open and poured himself a drink in the darkness.

A sip of the burning substance, and he saw her, outlined by the yellowish light of the hall, through the bottom of his glass.

"That bad, huh?"

"That bad," he agreed, taking in her perfect figure. "Black suits you."

"I know you like it."

"I would still rather nothing at all."

She smiled and kicked the door closed. The sway of her hips and the way her creamy skin contrasted against the dark fabric made her beautiful. Even more so.

She rubbed his shoulders, massaging the tension away. "Want to talk about it?"

"Here we go again… No, Higurashi, I would _not_ like to talk about it."

She kissed his right shoulder. "It's ok; if you can hear my whining about my tests, I can handle your ranting about chemical stuff I don't understand." She yelped in surprised when two large hands found her ass and lifted her to be pressed against his pounding erection.

"This Sesshomaru was fairly sure you were an expert in chemistry," he purred in her neck, before biting down hard.

Her ankles locked behind his back and she moaned, forgetting what she was about to say.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello dear new reader! Hello to you too, sweet person re-reading my story! Welcome (or welcome again) to Strictly Business!

Now, to solve some of the most frequently asked questions:

1) Yes, there will be -very- graphic sex scenes in this story. Get ready also for rape, physical violence, lynching, discrimination, strong language, sexual identity discussion, verbal abuse, etc. The "M" is there for a reason, people.

2) Yes, Kagome is a full fledged sexual worker (a.k.a. escort), even though she's a virgin. You might think this is far fetched and ridiculous, but in Japan it is legal to be a prostitute as long as intercourse isn't involved. It is extremely common to find working girls who only do handjobs or give oral, or at least that's what I've learnt in my researching.

3) This is an AU, meaning you pretty much don't need to have watched the series to understand what's going on. Still, many of the original traits of the characters remain, BUT remember the youkai and hanyou have aged as if the series never happened, meaning they're 500 years older, MEANING they have GROWN UP, PEOPLE. 500 years is a lot of time, even for a demon. There are some exceptions, as in Koga and Ayame's case. Kagome, for example, is several years older than in the anime, so you might find her to be more mature, cynical, and realistic: she has lived a very different life in this universe where demons and humans coexist not-so-peacefully; but deep down, she's still extremely selfless, loving, brave, and friendly.

4) I know this looks a lot like it's gonna go down the Pretty Woman path... trust me, IT DOESN'T.

5) Please, keep in mind that this story lacks a beta and that English isn't my first language. So, if you see any grammar mistakes you can either a) be patient, b) politely point it out in the comments, or c) go fuck yourself. Also, I'll periodically revise and correct the chapters, so if you ever wanna take a look around again, don't worry if something doesn't sound the way you remembered it: I probably fixed it.

6) If you want to be featured in the story, PM me and you can enter the running contest for this story.

7) Since I'm not only extremely attractive, an amazing person, and a legendary lover but also a breathtaking artist, asides from a terrible liar, I made a (naughty) cover for this story! I'd love to link you, but you'll have to copy the thing and replace the DOT with... ya know, a dot. You can find the cover art here: **dokugaDOTcom/gallery?func=detail &id=10780**

8) Have fun reading! (Or... you know, don't.)

Agustina~

P.S.: There are cliffhangers and plot-twists ahead. Read at your own risk.


	2. Strictly Chaste

I don't know when I became a 'space to be filled'.  
My thigh open lease, my neck a wishing well,  
his hot breath a coin -a demand-  
cast into me.

 _Raegan Myers,_ 'The Girl Becomes Gasoline'.

* * *

 ** _Eight months previously_**

 **Chapter Two: Strictly Chaste**

Kagome's phone rang and she sighed heavily before sliding a finger across the screen to answer the call.

"Yes, Miroku?" She said absentmindedly, although she did sport a smile.

"Kagome, dear! A customer requests your services the day after tomorrow. Show off, no happy ending, some important charity gala, you in?"

Knowing the man wasn't expecting to have sex with her was a relief, so she sighed and nodded to the devise. "Yeah, of course. Clothes?"

"And shoes and a bag, on him. He also pays for your nails, the make-up, and the hair. Jewelry is on you, though."

"I can work with that," she said with a grin. "Any specific request?"

"Elegant and clean, the most attractive one we have."

"Oh, _I'm_ your prettiest girl now?"

"Don't tell the others, sweetheart. You're my favorite."

"Who's the guy anyway?"

"Ugh! His name's a tongue-twister… It would be Doctor Sesshu- Sesshomaru Taisho, owner to Taisho Bioresearch S.A. We're talking a big customer here, doll, so don't disappoint."

"Won't do, boss. I'll call you later."

* * *

Oh, he hated it. He detested having to deal with a mass of people he didn't give two fucks about. But it was a gala sponsored by his company, and it would have been noxious for TBSA's image if he didn't assist his own event.

There, of course, needed to be some bitch to tag along. He was extremely uninterested in picking up some woman who would follow like a lap dog all night long, especially if he was forced to listen to her babbling.

He was practical, so an escort would do just fine. Not that it was the first time he hired one for these things, anyway. Of course, he was also principled, and would never scoop so low as to fuck a hooker.

A pretty accessory to make him look good would suffice.

He checked the clock around his left wrist. The whore had exactly two minutes before being officially late. As if being forced to this indignity wasn't enough…

He was about to give up on the whole idea when his doorbell rang.

 _No escaping now._

He walked to the intercom and the image of the teenager in front of the security camera almost made him choke on his own tongue.

He stared for a moment. She couldn't have been older than nineteen. Her dark blue cocktail dress matched her stunning eyes, and her raven black wavy hair was held in an updo.

She was gorgeous, but a _child_ , and he wondered how someone so pretty had ended up doing what she did. The second time she rang the doorbell, however, snapped him out of it.

"Yes?" He purred into the microphone.

"I'm being expected by Mr. Taisho… I mean, Dr. Taisho."

His eyebrow rose, but he didn't answer. After pressing a button, he saw the girl disappear past the front door and a minute later, there was a soft knock on his door.

He led her in, taking in the perfect curves hidden under blue fabric, and smirked. She didn't look like a common street whore, that was for sure, and was far more appealing than your normal escort.

The exotic beauty smiled at him, and he motioned her to sit in the black leather couch. "Your name?" He inquired.

"You can call me Higurashi," when his eyebrow arched in question, she answered the unspoken inquiry. "We use pseudonyms. I prefer Higurashi, although you can call me whatever you wish."

"Whatever your client wishes? Really? Would whore do? Servant? Filth?" He asked with a bemused expression.

 _Ah, so he's an asshole_. "Yes, of course, but imagine how it would look in your precious gala. I think you should give me a nice, sophisticated name now, also that way press can't track me down, don't you think?"

He smirked. "I suppose you are correct. You are called Higurashi Mitsuru, then."

"That's fine by me."

"The car will be ready to pick us up in fifteen minutes. So," he began to kill the time they had before departure. "How does one successfully gets involved into the prostitution business without losing her virginity?"

 _What a way to make small talk._

She took a calming breath, her smile never wavering. "You are lashing out against me, too angry I'm your only option besides showing up unaccompanied to this event. It's ok, I get it. But I'd be kinder if I were you. After all, all I should reimburse you would be the charge for the night, and I could go home with my hair, make-up, and nails done, not to mention a cocktail dress that accentuates my ass, shoes, and a bag, all brand new. I win either way. So, I'd be very grateful if you let me do my job instead of trying to push my buttons just because you think I'm too inferior to be in your presence."

He smirked. The hooker at least didn't have a sheep-like character. "Good. A bimbo would not do. I needed to know if I should keep you quiet and on a short leash or if I could allow you some freedom."

"Oh, Dr. Taisho… you have absolutely no power over my freedom, be sure of that," she answered with a smile.

"Would you like a drink?" He asked, walking towards the bar in his living room.

"I'm not old enough," she said with a seductive smirk.

"Hnn," the expensive scotch slid down his throat. "Higurashi, you have not answered my question."

"How am I a virgin? Well… I choose my customers prudently. Did my boss spill the beans or you guessed? "

"Neither," he answered, sitting on the couch in front of her. "I can smell latex and at least half a dozen men in your body, especially your mouth. But all the way up between your legs… that is no one's scent but yours."

"I had heard of the sense of smell of dog demons, but I never knew how specific it could be," she leaned back and crossed her legs, revealing a pair of black heels that followed the curve of her calves perfectly. She didn't miss the way his eyes followed the trail of milky skin. "I was told you had no interest in what was between my legs, though. Pardon my boldness, but you seem… drawn."

"To you?" He inquired with an entertained expression.

"To sex."

"I am male, Higurashi. I am not above sexual desire."

"Yes… but I am human… and you noticed anything but that until now." Only then it dawned on him, and she smiled again. "I take it you didn't ask for a human… Miroku, that shameless man… Oh, it will be scandalous, everyone knowing Dr. Sesshomaru Taisho, master of the universe, is kinky enough to tell the world of his interspecies relationship. So I cannot be your date. I will be… the newest addition to the PR department. Because you are a smart boss and brought someone who will make you look good and who can tell the difference between a well-intended question by the press or something to trick you into saying anything politically incorrect."

"Do you believe you are up to the task?"

"If I may tell you a secret, Doc… When I'm not busy with men like you who adore undressing me with their eyes… I actually _am_ into interspecies protocol and diplomacy."

"That explains why you service demons."

"And I make twice as much money… Besides, I see nothing wrong in interspecies relationships, and it's my goal to someday impulse the law that will grant humans and youkai the right to marry each other if so they wish… A human escort willing to take demon customers is rare, same case the other way around. It counts as a fetish. So, why bother sending me human clients when there are youkai ones who are almost literally waiting in line?"

"And your boss considers me one of these demons," he stated more than asked.

"I think he sent me more because of what I do by day than what I do by night," she smiled.

Sesshomaru nodded. "I approve of you. Still you need to calm down."

Her right eyebrow rose. "Do I seem anything but calm?"

Before she could blink, the demon was perched over her, caging her frame against the couch, his nose a mere inch away from hers, and she yelped, her hand looking desperate for her purse.

"I can smell more than the men you have serviced during the last two weeks. I can also smell your fear, your nervousness, your powerlessness, your desperation, your anger… I can also smell the pepper spray you are trying to retrieve from your purse so desperately."

She looked up at him, bright eyes wide and petrified, and his cheek brushed hers.

" _This_ is your way to calm me down?"

She muttered a whimper, terrified, but he extended the contact for a minute. "We need to do something about the way you stink. There will be other inuyoukai at the gala, after all. Anyone with a good nose will know you are an escort."

He stood, offering his hand and guiding her away of the living room. "You are shaking, Higurashi. Do not fear me. This Sesshomaru has no interest in cause you harm."

"I hope you don't feel offended I cannot simply trust your word, Doc," she said while holding the pepper spray tightly in her free hand.

They entered a large bathroom made mostly of black marble. He handed her a green soap bar. "As you probably know," he began, "I am a chemist. This soap is specially made to neutralize the stench I carry in my hands after a day of working with different substances…"

She gave him a guarded look and nodded. "My breath?"

"I cannot suggest anything but the drink I offered earlier. Would you reconsider?"

She agreed again and kept on staring at him. "Would you leave? I'd rather using the bathroom alone."

Sesshomaru smirked, turned, and left.

As soon as the door clicked, Kagome felt tears stream down her face. It had been months since she felt so dirty and disgusting, and she thought she was well past that point. The girl clenched her fists in fury because she knew there was no way he wouldn't smell the salt of her crying. She felt weak.

She wanted to believe she was in control, that she had power over the customer but she was wrong. She wanted to storm out, slam the door and leave forever, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction to know he'd hurt her. So, fuck that guy! To hell with his opinion! She _would_ regain control over the situation, and demonstrate she was not inferior to him.

When she exited the bathroom, the demon was pouring her a scotch on the rocks. He offered her the wide mouthed glass next to the check that paid for her services in advance, and his right eyebrow rose. "You were crying," he purred.

She accepted the drink with a smile and kept it in her mouth for a second before swallowing. "Can you also smell how much I despise you?"

He almost looked surprised. "I can smell your anger, not its object."

She giggled and sat again, crossing her legs once more and treating him to a sight of her creamy thigh. "And you thought it was directed towards me? I am not ashamed of my job, Dr. Taisho. Heaven knows I've worked hard to make my living. There was no rich daddy to inherit me his millions so I could chase my dream job and white whale of an investigation. After _my_ father died, he only left us a mortgage we couldn't afford and an empty spot in the family table."

He stared, shock almost evident in his cold façade, and smirked at her after a while. "You believe you know me."

"I read everything I could find about you, Doc. I know more about you than you know about me."

"Then why do you not tell me about yourself?"

She smirked back. "I'd rather have the upper hand, thank you very much."

* * *

The black long car shimmered under the streetlights. She stared out the window, seeing people pass like they didn't have a care in the world.

"Higurashi," he called softly. She hummed and turned. "I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier. You did not deserve my coarse aggressiveness, and for the way I have treated you, I am sorry."

Kagome blinked and burst in laughter. "Oh, you're terrified I'll take vengeance and make you look bad!"

"I am _not…_ "

"Don't worry, Doc. Taisho. You can apologize with cash later. I am not interested in the slightest about what you have to say about me. You are irrelevant and so is your opinion. I am a professional, and I will perform flawlessly the job I've been paid to do. Don't be so scared of this dirty little whore."

The chauffer of the car couldn't contain his soft snort, and Sesshomaru snarled.

* * *

She was perfect in every sense of the damn word, and she was a kid. She could have looked younger than she was, but still she had said she was below twenty, which was the legal drinking age in Japan.

The girl spoke elegantly and commented the investigation of interspecies reproduction with other guests, which was the star project of TBSA like she was actually involved in the research; she mentioned several essays by him that could be found in renowned scientific publications. She joked, was flattered on her beauty and keen opinion, and Sesshomaru found himself being complimented on his choice of employees.

At some point through the night, however, he cursed her faultless performance. An investor actually asked her about the PR model of his company, and just when he was ready to answer for her, she responded the investor graciously, like she actually was an employee of the division, and for a moment he mentally revised the list of employees in the Public Relations department just to make sure this girl didn't really work for him after all.

As long as no one would expect her presence in any other public appearances he made, everything would be fine. He really didn't think the girl would be interested in taking him as a client anymore, and it would only complicate things.

With her hand hooked comfortably with his elbow, they roamed the lounge, greeting guests, talking lightly with them, but completely mute as soon as they were left alone. They didn't cross a single word if it was not in front of other people, but after a few hours, Kagome tensed palpably in his hold.

"Higurashi?" He inquired softly.

"Let's go outside to have some fresh air." He nodded, and was surprised when in passing she snatched a slim glass of golden pink champagne.

When the cool air of the night brushed their faces, Kagome stared down at the city lights stretching far below the decorated terrace they were at.

She leaned against the railing and sighed before sipping the beverage.

"Higurashi, was there anything you needed?"

"Huh?" She turned, and the golden street lights shimmered in her blue eyes. "Ah, no, you can go back inside. You just don't want me in there right now."

"I believe you were doing fine," he asked, placing his hands in the pockets of his tux.

"There's a guy in there. He's hired me before."

Sesshomaru's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?" A nod. "And he did not recognize you?"

"Pretty sure he hadn't seen me, yeah. It might be better if I just call it a night before he ruins everything."

Sesshomaru nodded. "Who was it?" He asked casually after a moment.

She gave him a sly smile. "Professional confidentiality, Doc. My lips are sealed."

He smirked and offered his arm again, guiding her inside.

He exchanged a couple of words with some people and returned to her, accompanying her outside while typing quickly in his phone. As soon as they exited the lobby, his car parked outside.

"You…? I was thinking of taking a cab," she said guardedly.

"Is there not a company car to pick you up?"

"Yes…"

He walked and opened the door for her, but she continued to stare. He sighed. "Higurashi, the chauffer can pick you up at my place."

Her eyes narrowed. "This is not what you hired me for."

His eyebrow quirked. "My intentions remain the same, although I believed it was within my rights to change my opinion as it was within yours to decline. I cannot remain here without escorting the woman I brought, it would not be chivalrous."

She released a slow breath through her lips and nodded. She was very far from her apartment and a taxi would have cost a fortune either way. While she slipped into the back seat, she shot him a warning glare, and commented in passing, "You gave me the impression your manners weren't your first worry."

She closed the door herself, and Sesshomaru held back the need to snarl again while he entered through the other side.

The trip was long and Kagome hoped it would be a silent one. She sighed when she realized it would not be so.

"You did a good job, Higurashi."

"I always deliver, Doc."

"I was wondering," she rolled her eyes with her back turned to him, "how did you know so much about TBSA?"

"I did my homework. I told you about it."

"I understand the practicality of studying your customer, to know if he is dangerous, has charges on sexual assault… But the internal functioning of my business?"

"Oh, no, don't put me in a pedestal just yet. I studied nothing but your PR department. I knew I'd need an alibi to be there, so I had it all planned."

He smirked. "You clever little thing."

* * *

They descended the vehicle and he walked by her side, placing his hand on the dip of her back. "Join me upstairs."

She almost jumped away at the contact. "Taisho, I told you this is _not_ what you hired me for. Besides, the company car should be here any minute now."

"I was sure I had already made my intentions clear. I do not wish any physical favor from you."

"Then _what_ do you want up there that can't be done down here while we wait my ride?"

"My checkbook is upstairs, woman. I have to apologize with cash, remember?"

She felt a drop of sweat roll down her nape across the center of her back, but she nodded anyway.

When the elevator doors closed, she felt tenser than ever, and she shivered.

"Are you cold?"

"You pay too much attention to me."

"It is hard not to." Her eyes darted to his face and she saw a bemused expression. "I believe any male with interest in the female form would find it impossible to look away from you for too long."

"You. Are. Not. Getting. Me. Into. Your. Bed. Capisci? You're creeping me out!"

He whirled and scowled, and she backed up, trapped against the mirror-covered silver wall. "I was merely delivering a complement!" Although his words were tender, his tone was fierce.

She gulped. "Why would you do that? It's not like you were interested in making me feel good before!"

"I explained my reasons and apologized, Higurashi! Why do you lack the capability of accepting a man could _not_ want sexual favors from you?"

She stared, noticing how he had perched over her again, and she felt small and trapped, and tears shimmered in her eyes again. "Because that's the only thing anyone has ever wanted from me!"

Sesshomaru sighed heavily, a hand pressed against the cold mirror to hold his weight. "How can a female so intelligent and well-spoken take a job so below her, especially when she is so terrified of doing it? You dread this profession, why have you not sought an alternative?"

That touched a nerve, and Kagome growled, her tears falling freely this time. "You don't know shit! You're a rich boy who's never been hungry, or cold, or scared out of his right mind! I tried to find an alternative, I really tried, I really worked hard to the point of barely sleeping, and they kicked me out from my school because I couldn't pay my tuition… I was so poor I couldn't even qualify for a loan! I flipped burgers with an empty stomach for a year, and do you think anyone ever noticed? Without an embellished curriculum no one took a second to hear what I had to say, to know what I had to give…! All those years of studying only to ask 'do you want fries with that?'… It was fucking humiliating, knowing I was enough but lacking the experience, the connections… No one gave me the _chance_ …"

She whipped the tears away angrily, smudging her liner and not giving a shit. "A guy offered twenty bucks for a blowjob… and I was so hungry… All my job could afford was the rent of a room, crackers, and the electricity bill… I was so scared, Sesshomaru… He could have killed me, raped me, made me sick… I hadn't even been _kissed_ before…!"

Her shoulders shook and she looked down, unable to hold his gaze anymore. "Don't ask me why I do what I do, because I _tried_ … In this… I'm good at this, I can pay my tuition, and dress nicely, and pay the rent of a good apartment in downtown Tokyo with no rats and no leaks… and no one owns me. I have to take care of myself, but it's not like I didn't have to do that before… But no one is more dangerous than people like you, oh you _master_ of the universe, owner of the future, I _know_ I'm lowly scum, a filthy hooker, I don't deserve to be in your magnificent presence but still…" She looked up at him with anger so fierce it sent ice down his veins. "I'm still stronger than you."

Sesshomaru was breathless, and his chest constricted at the sight of her pain. He had done that, he had harmed her. "Higurashi… I didn't mean to…"

"Oh, go fuck yourself. You're not sorry; you just want to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. Pay the whore and leave me alone. I just wanna go home."

She wouldn't look at him. Sesshomaru stepped away, realizing the door of his private elevator had been open for a long while now, and he entered his apartment. As soon as he started scribbling the check with a sum large enough to clean his conscience, he heard a ding and the slide of the contraption as it made its way to the ground floor.

He hurried to the door and pressed the intercom, knowing the voice would be heard as soon as she exited through the front door of the building.

"Higurashi, where are you going?" He practically howled.

She stopped her stomping and whirled, screaming at the microphone. "I DON'T NEED YOUR TIP, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. I WANT NOTHING FROM YOU."

She disappeared from the range of the camera, and he heard a car driving away.

* * *

As if his sleepless night hadn't been bad enough, the next morning, as he sipped his coffee cup in his way outside, the doorman called his name softly. He procured a pink paper bag with the inscription of **'NOTHING'** in bold, black marker, explaining a delivery boy had brought it about an hour ago.

Sesshomaru didn't have to open it to know a pair of shoes, a bag, and a blue dress were inside.


	3. The Golden Rule

I'm sorry if this all seems a little rushed and desperate. It is.

 _Chuck Palahniuk_ , 'Stranger than Fiction'

* * *

 _ **Seven months and twenty-nine days previously**_

 **Chapter Three: The Golden Rule**

She knew it was coming, but still she stretched facing it for as long as she could.

By the time her phone rang for the forth time, she knew it was time to face the music.

Sitting in a bench far enough from the rest of the pedestrians of the campus, she took the call.

"Yes, Miroku?" She said with a small, almost terrified voice.

"Woooooah! Did you not hear the 'important customer' part? What the _hell_ happened last night!" His voice was playful and it indicated he was pretty much aware of what had transpired.

"I… could have… told him I despised him…"

"And?"

"To go fuck himself…"

"And?"

"Called him a fucking asshole…"

"And?"

"…Sent back the clothes he bought me…"

"See, that's where you lose me. Why would any woman send back a designer cocktail dress? I'd keep it as a trophy if I looked good in heels!"

She smiled weakly. "If I had known, I would have sent it to you instead… Is he too angry? He's suing me or something?"

"Oh, doll… He's called five times today, twice _personally,_ to apologize."

"WHAT!?"

"I think you broke his stainless steel heart. What did he do to make you so mad?"

She huffed. "He stuck his nose where it didn't belong. He thinks he knows everything about me… That idiot…"

"Well, he does know _something_ about you."

"Oh, really?"

"He definitely knows you like flowers. My office is a damn garden."

"He _wouldn't…_ "

"Oh, he _would_. I swear to God, doll, I don't even recognize some these flowers..."

"That's because you're a dude."

"Truly, but as a male in the business of love and pleasure, I used to think I knew of these things…"

"What a creep!" She hissed, back on topic. "Miroku, don't you even _think_ of giving him my number, or God forbid, my address…"

A little laugh sounded on the other side of the line. "Actually…"

" _ **MIROKU**_!"

"I just wanted to give you a heads up. There may be a few bouquets waiting at your door… or a taiyoukai, who knows, right?"

"I can't fucking believe you! How could you…!"

The laughter became stronger. "I'm just kidding, babe. You know the rules; I couldn't give up your info even if he threatened to tear me apart. I just called to suggest you came around the office… You want to see the cards…"

"There are _cards_!?"

"Only one isn't printed… And it's his handwriting."

"How do you know?"

"It _has_ to be."

* * *

Kagome opened the door to find three enormous bouquets waiting for her. She groaned, but at her boss's insistence, she checked the cards.

"I can't believe you're making me waste time like this..."

"This one came first," he said genially, ignoring her misery.

She investigated the mass of white and red, and finally opened the card. "It says _White Lily: Virginity and Majesty. Red Aster: Patience, 'I'd wish things happened different'._ "

Miroku snorted and she glared at him. His hands rose in surrender. "I'm sure these flowers are supposed to send a message through meaning alone."

"This is too embarrassing, why does his apology feel _more_ insulting?" She sighed and moved on to the next bouquet, made of the same type of flowers, only in different colors. She scrunched her nose since it didn't have any specific smell, and went to the card. "This one goes ' _Purple Carnation: Unpredictability. Pink Carnation: Pride and Beauty'_. C'mon, are you serious? I'm unpredictable because he reached my limit? He made me mad!"

"I'm sure he meant it in the best possible way."

Another groan. Finally, she moved on to the final and most complex bunch of flowers. This one was white, baby blue, and mostly purple. From the ribbon, two of the little envelopes could be seen instead of one.

"It says ' _White_ _Sweet Pea: Delicate Pleasure'_ … WHAT!? This is _not_ describing me suggestively, is it?"

"It could mean the pleasure of your company… Right?"

"Yeah, right," she growled, and continued to read the card. " _Light Blue Hydrangea: Heartfelt._ Oh, yeah, Dr. Jerk, I don't doubt your sincerity for a single second…"

Finally, her eyes focused in the abundant purple flowers and she sighed, resigned. "I'm sure this means 'now that I made a fool of myself, could you drop by and suck my dick?' I swear…" Miroku chuckled, and she continued. " _Purple Hyacinth: 'Sorrow, I Am Sorry, Please Forgive Me'._ "

"At least it's not a request of any other type."

"But just who this guy thinks he is!?" She rambled, ignoring her boss's voice. "He watched a chick-flick and now thinks that because he spent God knows how much money in this stupid display I'm supposed to… to…"

"To what? What does he get from this?"

"I don't know, getting the last word, me accepting him back as a customer, proving himself he's not that much of an asshole… I can't stand him, that prick…" She continued babbling while she opened the last envelope, and the last strand snapped. "OH, COME _ON_! WHAT AN ASSHOLE!"

"It's a check with a damn lot of zeros in it… and it's a bad thing?"

"I can't reject this money, it's too much! Once I'm not angry anymore I'll regret it forever… But I said I didn't want anything from the bastard… God, I _hate_ him!"

"Yeah, giving the biggest tip in history, what a douche…"

"Oh, don't you get on his side! Ugh…"

"Well, what are you gonna do?"

"I'll… I could donate it… What do you think I should do?"

Miroku smirked. "I think you should take him as a costumer."

" _WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?_ " Her voice shook the walls.

"As your pimp, I must insist. But, honestly, think of it. He's clearly got a massive crush on you. He must be regretting not taking the full service last night. This could be the fattest regular costumer in this agency; can you _imagine_ your paycheck?"

She groaned. "But I don't want toooo…!"

Miroku nodded. "Of course, but do you remember the golden rule of this business?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Never mix wokr and feelings."

"And that is precisely what you're doing. If you play your cards right, you could be making twice as much money as you're making now," he turned, making his way into his office, leaving her behind in the reception. "It's your call, of course. But you're gonna let that much cash go?"

He closed the frosted glass door, and Kagome stared at the ridiculous display of a wallet in the form of flowers in front of her, and she groaned.

Almost dragging her feet, she walked into his office and sighed dramatically. "Ok, I'll do it, but don't ask me to like it."

"Excellent," purred a voice much deeper than Miroku's. "Would you accept meeting me for dinner on Saturday night?"

Kagome almost fell on her ass when the infamous taiyoukai smirked at her from his comfortable chair in front of Miroku's desk.


	4. Foreplay 101

I know that I am mortal by nature and ephemeral,  
but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies,  
I no longer touch earth with my feet.  
I stand in the presence of Zeus himself  
and take my fill of ambrosia.

 _Ptolemy,_ 'Amalgest'

* * *

 ** _Seven months and twenty-seven days previously_**

 **Chapter Four: Foreplay 101**

He was charming, funny, witty, mannerly, masculine, sexy, sexy, _sexy_ and it was driving her _insane_.

Kagome poked a piece of nigiri for the fifth time, and Sesshomaru continued to munch, only this time he did so smirking.

She glared. "You're enjoying making me suffer…"

He swallowed, and damn, even doing that the bastard was elegant! "Not in the slightest. I fail to see how you find my apology wanting."

"Hydrangeas…" She muttered under her breath.

"Beg your pardon?" He said with a fanged flashy smile.

"Hydrangeas… The 'heartfelt' part is missing… Those used to be my favorite flowers until you turned them into a bad memory… You didn't even read the cards, did you?"

"Of course not. I know nothing about flowers," he said while holding some ginger between his chopsticks. "The store's owner assured me those bouquets would win over any wronged woman and I trusted his word. I will have to file a protest."

"How did you know I like flowers so much? Or was it just a coincidence?"

His smirk widened. "Your shampoo." She started. "You also wear a floral perfume… and I assume that other hint could be rose body wash…"

"You pay an awful lot of attention to my smell even though you think I stink," she hissed, face red.

"There is nothing I could do to avoid it. Besides, when you smell like you… _just_ like you, your perfume is pleasing."

She blushed madly and looked away. He bit down on a piece of sashimi victoriously.

"You're creeping me out," she muttered after a second, with her upper lip hidden inside her glass of water.

"Am I? My _heartfelt_ apologies. Still, it is not like I have contacted you through any forbidden medium. I will follow your rules."

She glared. "There's something you want from me. I'm sure you're not just being nice."

"What if I simply want to get you in my bed?"

She seemed to consider his words. Fighting the undignified need to snort, Sesshomaru allowed her time to analyze the situation. "Nah, that's not it."

"No?" Another smile. "How can you be so certain?"

"You're not interested in humans, that's why."

"Oh? Did you do your homework again?"

"Mh. Yeah, you've been seen publicly with youkai women, but never had a serious relationship that the press found out. You barely deal with humans at all. The Taisho Group is vastly constituted by youkai. Not even a tenth of TBSA's investors are humans… And everyone knows about your altercations with your brother."

"Half-brother," he corrected automatically.

"See? There's no way you're trying to get lucky with me, paying or not. You want something from me and I can't wait to see when you're gonna have to spill. So you might as well save us time and tell me what you're getting at."

He smirked. "Very well. There is a vacancy as an intern in the Public Relations department in one of the corporations of Taisho Group. It is just part time, not a lot of money, but you would choose your hours and you can go up from there."

She stared in shock, and after a couple of seconds, the smell of anger punched him in the nose. "No," she said through tightly clenched teeth.

"I assumed you would say no. May I know your reasons before you refuse my offer?"

"I already refused."

"I believe there is still time to sway your opinion."

She narrowed her eyes. "I won't allow you to own me. If you're my boss…"

"Me and another two hundred investors," he corrected.

"Fine, whatever. You and another two hundred _minor_ investors. If you're my boss I'm just getting the job because you want to get some from me, not because I've earned it."

"I thought you had reached the conclusion I am not interested in you physically…" She stammered for a second before he continued. "Higurashi, your performance in the gala was perfect. You certainly surprised me, not to say you earned my respect. You are overqualified for this internship, but offering more would certainly be 'cheating'. I have confidence you will earn your promotion within a month."

She looked down at her plate, once more poking her food. "I still couldn't…"

"Why?"

"School. If I have two jobs I'll neglect my studies, and if I give up _this one…_ I wouldn't be able to pay my rent _or_ my tuition, not to mention books, food, bills, the metro pass card… I'd have to move into a room again. Not even with a roommate I could keep on paying my apartment…"

"You should deliver a total of ten hours a week. I am certain you could work this out. Besides, once you graduate, you would have assured yourself a permanent position."

She looked down at her plate. "Why do you want to change me so badly? What if I like my job?"

"Hnn. You _could_ like your job. Maybe some of your coworkers do. You… you despise it… I can smell it." Her eyes met his. "And even without my nose, I could tell."

"Why are you doing this for me, Sesshomaru? I'm sure every single student in my grade would die to take a paid internship in one of your companies."

He nodded. "You might be right, but none of them has proven themselves to me… You said you lacked the contacts to get an interview. Now you have one, now you have the chance of someone listening what you have to give… Do not make assumptions; you still will have to subject yourself to the selection process and we could still hire a different candidate… But nevertheless, you have your interview, you have your opportunity. Do not let it go to waste."

Kagome sighed. "I'll think about it."

* * *

She swallowed hard and looked around, trying to seem disinterested. A hand-shaped blur on the elevator's mirror caught her eye, and Sesshomaru noticed immediately. When she heard him huff his amusement, she blushed. "Your cleaning service forgot a spot."

"I asked them not to clean it."

"Why would you…?"

"It will stay there, as a reminder that I was a complete jerk, and that I must earn your forgiveness."

She shrugged. "It's not like you said any lies… And the question was just a question… I might have overreacted…"

"You had the right to be upset. It was truly none of my business."

She took two steps inside the luxurious penthouse and she felt herself blushing, nervous beyond compare. _Get a grip, Kagome. You're not a rookie! Besides he doesn't want to…_

His clawed hands caressing her arm teasingly stopped that train of thought. _Never mind. He definitely does want_.

"A drink?"

"Out of your good will or because my breath stinks?"

"Good will. You smell delicious tonight."

Kagome remembered how she had bathed in every single neutralizing soap she had found in the market.

"Then I'll take one."

He didn't even turn on the lights. She saw his black silhouette and the lights of the city below through the golden liquid he poured for both of them.

He invited her to have a sit, and she fidgeted momentarily in the leather couch. She could see the right outline of his body, golden eyes and silver hair shining, and she gulped.

When silence dragged, she found her tenseness started talking for her. "You've ever done this before?"

"Many times."

"Paying for it?"

She saw his fangs shine when he smiled. "Never."

"With a human?"

"Not once."

"… Are you nervous?"

"Very."

She downed her drink and took a calming breath. "When I'm working I just go into autopilot, ya know? I just… My mind's not there, so it makes it easier…" She looked away, and missed his conflicted expression behind his glass. "I don't know if I could do that with you…"

"Why not?"

"You… you demand attention… Before the flowers and after too, I was thinking about you all the time. In how angry I was at you, and how embarrassed I was afterwards… You want me to recognize you're not irrelevant, like I said the other day… You're not, I take that back… That's why I'm so nervous. Because if I touch you, you won't be faceless… I'll be touching _you_."

His chest swelled with pride.

"If I made you want me, would it make things easier? It would definitely work for me."

She looked back at him. "You want to _seduce_ me?"

In the blink of an eye, he was on his knees in front of her crossed legs, caressing her hot skin with clawed fingers. "I could try."

"I…" She breathed, and his hands froze. "Why did you…?"

"I will not continue to touch you unless you allow it."

She gulped and nodded, satisfied when his caressing resumed.

 _Didn't I hate you a couple of days ago?_

Her sharp intake of air drove him on and he pressed a kiss to her ankle, just below the strap that held her heel in place.

Grazing her flesh with fangs and lips, he climbed up her leg, but took the outer route at her thigh. The hands that had been teasing her calf went up, and followed the trail of his kisses. At her hips, he nibbled the flesh a bit harder, and she stiffened a moan. "Do not hold back," he pledged.

He climbed up the couch as he made his way north. He took a second to scratch both hardened mounds that pressed against the fabric of her shirt with his fangs, and she gasped.

When he reached her neck, his hot tongue traced her pulse point, ripping a moan when his hands massaged each perfect breast with some more urgency.

He sucked her skin softly and released her, smirking when he saw the small red spot mar the milky white column of her throat.

Slowly and teasingly he kept on kissing and provoking. After several minutes his lips grazed the underside of her jaw, and then met hers.

She kissed him eagerly, frustrated, feeling the heat begging to be filled in the vertex of her legs. She moaned and his tongue took the occasion to explore her mouth. He tasted hot and spicy. When she nibbled at his lower lip, he growled, pleased.

"Sesshomaru…" She breathed against him, and he took it as encouragement.

His hands left her chest and traveled down the plains of her abdomen. When he lifted her by the hips with two strong hands, she gasped again.

She felt the soft wool rug pillow her body when he lowered her on the floor, stretching over her. He growled approvingly again when her small hands caressed his chest and then his back, tracing every muscle they could come across.

Her fingers followed two muscles that formed a V shape low on his hips, but she was caught off guard when his hand around her wrist stopped her from going further. "Higurashi, there is no need to push yourself forward. I am yours for the whole night, remember?"

She blushed and stammered an apology. The fact that he didn't state _he_ had _her_ for the night made her rub her thighs together, since the warmth increased full force.

He smiled, and continued his ministrations. When his kissing resumed, she was more cooperative and dared to trace the line of his fangs.

She suddenly arched and gasped, feeling his fingers pressed tightly against her clit, rubbing circles and causing loud moans to escape beyond her restrain.

His hand abandoned its exploration under her skirt after a second, and she let out a pitiful sound of disappointment.

He looked down at her, stretched between his knees, black, loose hair pooled around her flushed face, and he smirked. "Should I take off your shirt?"

She scowled at him. "Are you trying to make me beg?"

His knuckles caressed her cheek. "I am trying to get your consent. Has anyone asked your permission to touch your body?"

She looked up at him with big, intent eyes. "No, never…"

"Well, I am glad you are having a first too… Can I, Higurashi? You are free to refuse me." He insisted.

"Umh…"

He nodded and leaned, kissing her deeply and passionately, causing her to arch into his touch again. She felt her head spin, and moaned against his lips. Only when he backed up to allow her a break to breath, she realized he had literally made her curl her toes.

"I feel… I feel something weird. It's like you're touching me, even if you are touching something else…"

"My youki… it is the energy every demon has."

"How could it be that this is the first time I feel it if I've been kissed by demons before?"

"Perhaps because you demand my attention, too. I want to kiss _you_ , not simply a warm body underneath me. You are not faceless either."

She panted, and her hands knotted in his hair, pulling him down for yet another kiss that robbed her of breath. She pulled away unexpectedly, and stared into his eyes. "Yes, take off my shirt, the skirt, anything."

He smiled, pleased, and his hands undid button after button of her white blouse. Once her chest was covered in nothing but white lace, he leaned in for a taste, and Kagome moaned at the top of her voice when his tongue infiltrated under white fabric to tease a dark pink nipple while two fingers pressed her clit again.

"I enjoy your flavor," he hummed before hooking a finger in the fabric of a cup and pulling down, leaving a breast completely bare for his eyes. He sucked hard, taking the peak in his mouth and biting softly, and she almost screamed. He released her flesh and smirked at her. "I take it you enjoy this, too."

"No one… no one ever," she wheezed, overwhelmed, and he kissed her lips softly.

"I know…" His smile was understanding.

She lowered her gaze, mortified.

"Higurashi, promise you will stop me if there is something you do not want from me." She looked away, and he pressed a finger to her chin, making her turn and see him. "Promise."

"I'm embarrassed of talking and interrupting and…"

"Nothing is more important. Promise."

"A-alright, I promise."

He nodded, and kissed his way downwards, kissing her abdomen adoringly, and when he made it to the edge of black fabric; he looked up before carefully sliding the pencil skirt down her legs, before tossing it to the side, and taking her in again.

This teenager, this… _kid_ who was a woman at the same time, was completely oblivious to what it was like to be in the receiving end of pleasure. Knowing no man had ever taken the time to explore her body like it was more than a chunk of meat made him feel powerful, challenged. She was beautiful, smart, fiery… He really wanted to show his appreciation.

"Higurashi, do you touch yourself?"

Misinterpreting it by a request, and having given shows for customers before, her hands slid down, caressing her breasts and settling between her legs, softly tracing her lace covered core.

He chuckled. "Although I do not mind the view, I would really appreciate an answer. Do you masturbate?"

She blushed a dark shade of red and looked away. "No, I don't. They… they make me not want to."

"I thought so. Have you ever had an orgasm?"

She shrank under his scorching gaze, and looked up at him just to make sure this was not some sort of cruel joke. "Maybe, I don't know…"

"If you had, you would know…" He leaned again, nipping her navel and making her moan for him. "Listen up, I want to bring you pleasure. But since you are as new to your body as I am, we will have to work together. Tell me if you like something or if you don't. We can crack the system together."

She looked down at him. "Did you just actually say…?"

"Got it. No bad attempts at humor." She giggled and he smiled. "Could you do that for me, Higurashi?" When she nodded, he smirked. "Good girl."

He leaned again, and she moaned loudly when his claws teased the dripping wet creases under the lingerie. "Do you enjoy this?"

"Yes!" She breathed when he pressed harder. "D-do it again."

Rubbing up and down, he relished in the way her body squirmed and wrung under his touch. She whimpered again when his hand abandoned her core, but she gasped when she realized what he intended.

He brought his thumb to his mouth and, with a quick snap of his fangs, got rid of a fatally sharp claw. He traced the tip of his now dull thumb and, satisfied it was harmless enough, moved on to the next finger, repeating the process.

The promise of the action and the way his hot tongue flicked over the tips made Kagome moan, and he smirked, licking his index once more, only this time he did so slowly.

He pulled the panties down and out of the way, tossing them over his shoulders and staring again. He thought of making a bemused comment on her completely shaved mons pubis, but he knew she could take it the wrong way. Instead, he settled for whispering a compliment.

"You are a piece of art," he said softly, staring at her unbuttoned blouse still under her body and her disheveled bra. The way she blushed made him smile genuinely.

"You can't possibly…"

He leaned again and kissed her lips tenderly, and she sighed. "You are also challenging my self-control… Still, we have all night long, so you can fight me in any other way you choose… later."

"Se-Sesshomaru, I…" She trailed off, and he could smell her embarrassment.

"You _are_ beautiful, Higurashi… You are perfect."

She looked away, her face turning completely red. "You're too chatty."

Five hundred years ago such a description of the mighty Sesshomaru would have been nothing but ridiculous.

He chuckled. "And you are not chatty enough."

When he hooked his arm around her waist, pulling her up, she wondered just what was he planning. He removed the remnant of her clothes, but left the heels on, and smirked wickedly at her in the darkness.

Kinky. Now with that she could work. She returned the smirk. "So you like my shoes, I see."

"Indeed," he murmured after lowering her on the ground again, lifting her ankle to his lips and kissing her skin, holding her leg against his torso, and pressing lightly his hips against hers.

She felt the hard rock length he pushed against her nude core, and she bit her lip. "This way… would you like to fuck me this way?"

"I would like to fuck you in any way, Higurashi," he answered after hooking her knee behind his shoulder and keeping her leg in place, grinding his dressed cock against her once more, pressing her clit and making her moan. "But I'm not doing this."

Disappointment and feelings of inadequacy filled her mind. "Why not?"

"Not today. There are way too many things I'd enjoy showing you first."

"Mh, fine… It's your money after all…"

He bit her ankle a bit harder. "You seem intent in remembering yourself this means nothing. Are you in _autopilot_ already?"

She focused and quirked an eyebrow. "You're the oddest dude ever… Does it _mean_ something?"

"It means enjoyment. There is no need to add romanticism to it… but if you have the chance of finding pleasure in your job, why try and convince yourself you are a living sex toy and that your experience is irrelevant?"

"I'm not a sex toy?" She asked, amused.

"I'll get my pleasure from you, eventually, I'm certain. But no, Higurashi. You are a woman," he ground his erection hard against her skin, and she moaned loudly. "And as much of a participant as me… I pay for your time, not your actions… If I wanted to fuck a doll, it would have been cheaper."

She huffed, trying to not appear breathless. "Oh, fine, you win, I'll let you foreplay me until I scream, if it means so much for you."

He leaned forward pressing her flexible leg to her chest, rocking his hip against her for a moment, before kissing the tip of her nose. "Thank you."

"You're we-!"She didn't manage an answer when his thumb started pressing her clit hard and fast, rubbing in tighter circles every time, and soon she felt the buildup, the feeling that tightened her abdomen, and the pull. In the second he added his index carefully inside her soaked passage and pressed upwards, she groaned and it transformed into a soft cry.

Her hips shook, and she was breathless.

Never removing his fingers from their location, and still holding her knee with his other hand, he leaned again, testing her flexibility once more, reminding himself of exploiting it later, and stopping to look into her rolled back eyes until she returned to earth. "That, Higurashi, is an orgasm."

She had no idea of what to say, of how to react. So she swallowed hard and muttered the first clear thing that came to her mind. "Again…"

Sesshomaru smirked at the promise of fun. He began the process again, each time bringing her to climax more easily, discovering her body at same time that her, adoring her breathy commands of 'faster' and 'harder', and he realized right then and there, as her shuddering body tightened around his fingers, that this girl could be dangerously addictive.

"Time out!" She gasped after the fourth consecutive orgasm. "I can't brea…! My head's spinning… Oh, God…"

He let go of her leg and pressed his cheek against her bent knee, staring in amusement. "I am glad you enjoyed yourself, Higurashi."

She smiled and looked down at him, about to say something sly and bold, when every single thought froze in its tracks. "What are you doing!?"

With an exaggerated sound of disappointment, he stopped before his wet index made it to his mouth. "You smell delicious. I wished to know if you tasted equally appetizing."

"Are you kidding me? I'm a…! I could…!"

"If you carried any diseases I would smell them easily. Relax. I know you take good care of yourself."

She stared, gaping, and finally giggled. "You trust your nose that much?"

"With my life," he answered honestly. "Would you like some water?" He asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Yes, please, I'm so thirsty."

He smirked and stood, cleaning his right hand with a fabric napkin before pouring two glasses of water.

Kagome took the chance to get a grip. Only to gasp when she noticed her right leg was completely covered in bite marks from the knee down. "You bit me!" She stared outraged at the dotted crescent bruises.

Sesshomaru turned, brows furrowed. "You did not realize? I apologize, I thought you enjoyed it and did not say anything about it because you didn't want me to stop. Are you mad at me?"

She sighed. "No, it's ok… I was in my own little world… Now I'll have to wear pants all week long."

He sat on the floor in front of her, passing the glass, before nodding. "Good."

She looked at him with surprise, until understanding dawned on her. "Youkai are so possessive…"

He smirked. "If I knew those other males treated you right, it would not affect me so much. It is a shame, having such a responsive and delicious girl at one's disposition, and using her as a fleshlight."

"Responsive?" She said with laughter in her eyes before downing the water.

"Every sound, every nuance… So human… They are the most erotic things I have experienced in my life," his throat moved as he drank the water.

She smiled, blushing, before crawling her way to his lap, pressing herself against his body, putting his glass away, and opening the first button of his tailored shirt. "Oh, Doc… you won't get back to amateurs once you get to see what a pro can do."

"Show me," he purred.

She stood but didn't let go of the collar of his shirt, pulling him with her, and all but tossing him to sit on the wide leather chair.

She knelt over him, each leg on one armrest, and straightened up, leaving her chest level with his face. He smirked. "This gives me ideas… Would you allow me getting one more orgasm from you?"

She blinked. "Really? I'm about to reciprocate all the things you did to me and you wanna keep on giving? Go ahead, Doc, I won't stop you!" She said with a grin.

Sesshomaru smirked and his lips closed around a nipple before delivering a playful tug. He made her scoot forward and he slid lower. "Hands on the back, else you might fall."

Her legs were widely separated and she gasped when his hot tongue trailed the inside of her thigh. "A-are you sure you want to do this?"

"Higurashi, if there is a nose to trust," he said while delivering soft kisses all the way up to the vertex between her legs, "is a dog demon's nose."

"If you say s…oh, God…"

His nose pressed against her clit, and he took a deep breath. Kagome bit her lip to wait for the moment it happened, but when his tongue brushed her soaking core, his reaction was anything but what she expected.

Sesshomaru's hands immediately left her hips, and held on tight to the free area of each armrest. He hissed loudly, and she heard the leather tearing under his still clawed left hand.

"Sesshomaru?" She asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?" She said with a little voice. Did she taste horrible? Had she somehow hurt him?

When she tried to scoot away, however, his hands gripped her hips forcefully and he brought her core back to his mouth, attacking with tongue and fangs and making her scream in pleasure when an orgasm exploded without warning.

He hissed again. "Fuck…" he muttered, the vibrations of his lips sending shivers through her body. She had to, indeed, take a good hold of the back of the chair not to collapse on him. He was not tender this time. He lapped and bit her thighs, sucking her clit powerfully and exploring her depths as far as he could.

Kagome felt she was about to pass out. She begged him to slow down, but he ignored her completely. When her orgasms became so close to one another she could not differentiate them, she screamed his name, before her legs went out.

He didn't let her fall. Using his hold he again lowered her on the rug and sucked and licked like his life depended on it.

After a good fifteen minutes, he slowed down, finally biting softly her inner thigh, looking up at her.

She seemed to be in the verge of consciousness, her voice completely coarse from so much screaming, sweaty and panting. She couldn't even move her head to look at him, so she just breathed out whatever thoughts she could form. "Wha… why… you… you almost killed me…"

Sesshomaru crawled up her body, leveling his face with hers, and she noticed he was panting too, sweating, but most disturbingly his eyes shone red like two live embers. "Are you alright?"

She hardly managed to nod, and her eyes questioned him of the rest. _What the fuck happened?_

"You… I never... anything better… It was…" He collapsed by her side, wheezing at the same rhythm. "I think you might... be a miko."


	5. Be Gentle, The First Essential

I knelt and locked the door. I locked the door locking the world and time outside. I stretched my body across the mattress and Saskia drew in close to me and placed her open hand on my chest, her mouth near my shoulder; her breath, my breath blew out the candle, and I held my lost Wanderess with tenderness until sweet sleep overcame us.

 _Roman Payne_ , 'The Wanderess'

* * *

 _ **Seven months and twenty-six days previously**_

 **Chapter Five: Be Gentle**

 **(Also known as 'The First Essential')**

When Sesshomaru's racing heart finally calmed down, he realized the girl he had just, in her own words, 'almost killed' hadn't reacted at all to his shocking news.

He let his head drop to the side, and discovered she was sound asleep. He felt a smug smirk pull his lips… he had literally made her cum until she passed out. That was a feat if there ever was one!

On the other hand, his cock was painfully hard and he had to be the first male in history to hire an escort and be left unfulfilled by his own choice…

He sighed and tried to think of anything else. Taking care of the problem himself was not his style, so he would have to let it go or wake her up. With the latter being a seemingly impossible task, he set his mind to determine how the _hell_ he had spent so long right next to a miko without even realizing.

Miko… that was a word that nobody used nowadays, not even in Japan. After the days of the Third Demon Inquisition in 1758, holy men and women were renamed 'hunters of the inhumane', and not until World War II were known as 'youkai control agents'.

Control… Like the fuckers could care at all about anything but incinerating demons off from existence. Yes, they could restrain youkai… but it was easier to make them disappear.

The police forces of every moderately large city in the world counted with these over-privileged teams of humans. SWAT squads of the occult, called in to simply handle things however they saw fitted. In most cases other youkai law officers would take care of things, but when some non-human idiot caused too much damage or was too powerful for their own good, the ones with purification powers stepped in.

It was impossible to miss one. From the second they were born, every human child was blood tested to see if there was any hint of holy energy in them. If the test came up positive, by the time they were five they were taken to specialized academies where they were taught to control their powers…

If only that was the end of it.

Of course the Purification Arts schools were little brainwashing stations where kids learnt to hate, kill, and worse of all justify their actions towards youkai. Sesshomaru couldn't even count how many politicians supported these academies, or how many came from them, for that matter. Purification wielders were untouchable, but at least, they were very few.

Even without the tests, the special schools, and the force-fed ideology, every minor demon could detect a purification user within a fifteen yards radius. The taiyoukai should have identified her the second she stepped into his elevator for the first time. It was the instinct screaming there was a predator close by, and he had many times wondered if humans felt the same about the so called monsters.

If that wasn't enough, youkai counters could sense each other. If Higurashi was one, how could she had spent her whole life hidden was beyond him.

She definitely didn't know. Else, she wouldn't be fooling around with demons, even if it paid up in fat cash.

He then reconsidered his train of thought. As soon as he tasted her, he felt the strongest rush of power filling him, and he wanted more. It was like every single cell of his body was set aflame, and despite it hurt, it also felt incredibly invigorative.

In the remote case the girl wasn't a miko… then what _could_ she be? Because although he lacked experience with humans anyone would know if eating one out in the figurative sense caused _that_. Maybe even the cultural gap would have been easier to breach!

Kagome shifted by his side, pressed herself against him, and the taiyoukai sighed. He glanced at the clock, seeing it was half past midnight, and wondered if he should wake her up, since they had spent almost two hours on the rug, but immediately discarded the idea.

Careful not to disturb her, he stood and walked out of the room, into his studio. The door clicked closed and he quickly texted her boss, having memorized the number after the second time he called to get a chance to see her and make amends.

He didn't wait for a reply. Returning to the living room, he scooped the girl in his arms carefully, and transported her to the bedroom.

She opened her eyes lazily, but suddenly jumped in his hold. "Relax, Higurashi. You fell asleep on the floor. Unless you wish to wake up with some sever neck pain, I suggest you let me place you in my bed."

She gave him a guarded look. "You… you sleepin' with me?"

He smirked. "It is _my_ bed after all." When she blushed, he chuckled. "I can lend it to you if so you wish. I do not need to sleep."

"It's okay, actually… I've just… never slept with anyone before…"

"I know. You told me and I can smell it."

"No, I meant _literally_ sleep with someone."

He lowered her naked form on the bed and gazed at her, surprised. After a moment, he composed himself. "Are you certain?"

"If it doesn't bother you…"

"I will be wearing far less clothing," he reminded her with a smirk.

Her face turned a dark shade of red. "That's fine."

"Very well. Make yourself comfortable. I will return in a few minutes."

He left her there, in the darkness only disturbed by the lights of the city down below, and once she was certain she was alone, Kagome jumped off the bed.

She felt her knees go weak, but still she hurried away from the bedroom.

He was about to open the water to take a quick shower, like he did every night, when he heard her dainty little steps fleeing the bedroom and towards the front door. Sesshomaru felt conflicted for a moment. Should he stop her? Ask her what was wrong?

He decided it was better to just let her do whatever she wanted. After all, it was from him that she was fleeing. He growled while stepping into the hot water… they had been having fun, hadn't they? Why the hell would she escape? Like he would have stopped her from leaving whenever she wanted!

He quickly washed his hair and rinsed the lather, letting the loud falling water calm his frustration. Toweling his hair, he went back into his bedroom, only to be startled by a surprised squeal.

Kagome's face was a vibrant tone of red, and she was looking away. The smell of her embarrassment became suddenly thick in the air, before a spark of arousal was distinguishable.

"Higurashi?" He asked in disbelief, seeing her sitting at the edge of his bed.

"I-I didn't think you'd return naked!"

"I… thought you had left."

She looked at him in surprise, before remembering his very nude state and looking away again. "Why would I? I mean, if you want me to leave…"

"No! No, I simply… I heard you run to the front door."

"I… went back to the living room. Had something there I needed… Didn't you hear me coming back?"

"No, I was showering."

"Oh…" She said, and her scent turned sad.

"Like I do every night…" He explained. "It is the force of habit, to be honest. I still plan bathing in your scent for the rest of the evening."

"Mh," she hummed, before shivers went up her spine when the bed shifted under his weight.

"What did you need from the living room any way?" He asked, trying to change the topic.

"Umh… an Essential."

"An… _Essential_?"

"One of the Six Essential things I always carry with me whenever I meet a customer."

"Oh, I see. And what was this Essential you required?"

She mumbled, and although he heard her perfectly, he asked her to repeat herself with a huge grin on his face.

"Condoms, ok? It's just condoms! Geez…" Kagome knew her face was red because even with the dimmed lights, she could see it in the tip of her nose.

Sesshomaru chuckled, but slid closer to her, placing his hands on her shoulders before kissing her nape softly. "Are you planning on taking advantage of me, Higurashi?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who flashed the other!" She restricted a moan when his kisses made it to her neck and his hands to her waist.

"But you are just as undressed as I am."

"I… ah…" She swallowed, noticing how his chin now rested in the dip between her collarbone and shoulder, and his hands had wrapped completely around her midriff.

"As long as you remember we will not be having sex tonight…" He bit her earlobe playfully delivered a hot lick. "And if you are not too tired…"

"I'm fine… I just needed a power-nap."

"Even professionals require their rest," he said with a smirk, and she glared at him over her shoulder.

Sesshomaru moved again, sitting behind her and resuming his kissing, this time pressing his scorching length against her lower back, making her gasp.

"Are you nervous?" He purred.

"N-no… I'm… Okay, fine, I'm nervous. It's a high bar the one you've set."

"You know I demand nothing. I told you before, I pay for your time, not your actions."

She moaned when his claws teased her left nipple, and bit her lip.

Turning around softly, she kissed him shyly. When she brushed his lower lip with her tongue, he rumbled approvingly.

Before he could register her actions, she turned completely in his hold, and pushed him down, straddling his thighs.

"I just remembered I have a promise to fulfill… I can't let my reputation be tarnished, can I?"

"I see you found your confidence…"

She ignored his voice completely. "God, has anyone ever survived this thing?" She looked down at the enormous erection that pushed against her belly, and smiled.

He laughed and shook his head in disbelief of this girl. "I have been told there have been injured."

She shifted her hips, and the underside of his cock slipped between her legs, pressing against her core and making her moan. The slippery friction caused Sesshomaru to growl approvingly, and missed it completely when she opened her hand and tore a silver package open.

When her small, dainty hand grabbed the base of his pounding length, he hissed in pleasure. Her fingers were soft and slender, and she stroked slowly, then faster, relishing on his delighted purring.

Her thumb traced a circle around the dripping tip, and she crawled away and leaned to kiss the underline, carefully. When he sighed, she decided to kick things up a notch and graced his skin with her teeth.

"Higurashi…" He moaned.

"Relax, Doc… Let me take care of you."

Her fingers expertly rolled the latex sleeve, and he looked down with a bemused expression. "Purple?"

She shrugged. "Grape flavor, it's my favorite. Besides, look at that oversized popsicle in all its leaning-to-the-left glory!"

Sesshomaru looked into her eyes and burst out laughing like she never heard him before, before she joined him herself. Actually, if she had to bet, he probably hadn't laughed like that in a long while.

"You…" He said with a grin.

"Me?"

He smirked. "You."

She bit her lip before leaning down and pressing the tip with her tongue. "Good."

Sesshomaru hissed again when her lips wrapped his cock. She teased the head using her tongue, before releasing him with a pop.

"Come over here," she coaxed, and he scooted to the edge of the bed while she knelt on the floor. "Now, remember what you made me promise?"

"Yes, I do."

"I figured that since this is the twenty first century, it may as well work both ways. If you'd like something specific from me, or want me to stop doing something, you've just gotta say the word." She kissed his thigh before biting down playfully. "I was also thinking about your attempt of murder on my persona. Boy, was that a performance for the ages…"

"We aim to please, Ms. Higurashi," he groaned when, out of nowhere, the girl trailed her tongue across his length before filling her mouth completely and sucking hard.

"Mh," she hummed, releasing him. "I won't complain, but it _was_ startling when your eyes began glowing."

Sesshomaru fought to concentrate when she started pressing kisses to the side of his dick, slowly moving upwards. When her words sank in, he gave her an apprehended look. "I lost control. I apologize."

"I liked you better when asking permission, but to know you aren't as perfect and measured as you think was nice. Tell me, when do your eyes get red?" He hesitated and she bit his thigh again, this time harder. "Answer."

He swallowed. "Whenever I lose control and my most instinctual self takes over."

"You better not be saying you've got a split personality, because between the two of you, you're gonna end up successfully killing me."

"No, it is hard to explain. I am myself, but with a different… mindset."

"Gotcha. Aiming for the red eyes, then."

"Higurashi?"

She winked wickedly, and he swallowed hard, his cock throbbing in anticipation. Once again she pushed forward and kissed the head, before taking the length into her mouth, moving softly at first, testing her limits.

When the tip of his cock slid all the way into her throat, her lips tightly wrapped around his shaft, his eyes rolled back in his head.

To say it felt good was an understatement. The sizzling heat of her mouth, the occasional flick of her tongue, and the pressure of her teeth synchronized in one of the most amazing things he had ever experienced.

When he was convinced it could not possibly get any better, she hummed and smiled, her head moving rhythmically and faster by the minute. Her hands caressed him in the most seductive of ways, and after a few minutes, she swallowed, the movement of the muscles in her mouth shooting a wave of pleasure through his body.

This, specifically talking, was not something he had experienced often during his centuries walking on Earth. Youkai females usually had fangs or were not to be trusted when it came to their delicacy. If there was one perk to having a human lover, besides the fiery emotions, the volatile wit, the passionate spirit, the responsive body, the frail and delicious flesh, and the exquisitely maddening flavor of her arousal; it was this one.

Sesshomaru entwined a hand with his bangs, holding for dear life, hissing, groaning, and moaning. Suddenly, she let go completely of him, and he was sure for a moment she was trying to kill him.

"Sessomaru…" she whispered, licking up his torso and biting the tense, pale skin that covered his well-defined muscles. "Look at me." He gazed down, panting, and the way she was looking at him almost made him cum there and then. "I'd like you to try something."

"What is it?" He said breathlessly.

"Fuck my mouth." He growled loudly and for a second she thought he was angry, except his cock pounded furiously in her hand, reassuring her. "Grab my hair, fuck my mouth. You know I can deepthroat you, so don't hold back…" She smirked. "But you might want to stand up for that."

Shivering, he stood, and she wrapped her lips around his shaft again. His hands entwined with her ebony locks and he panted, before sliding in and out of her, slowly and gaining speed by the minute.

It was not exactly a new experience, taking control during a blowjob. But the way she smiled, hummed, and moaned, enjoying giving herself up to him, was a whole different matter. Even the way she was kneeling, adoringly, like she was in front of an altar, was alluring to the extreme, to say the least.

Her blue eyes sparkled and he immediately focused on her. Two pale, small hands started traveling her own body, and when she started touching herself, she swallowed again, sending him over the edge in the most powerful climax he could remember having.

He pulled her tight against his skin, curling over her body. After several convulsions he let go of the breath he was holding, and collapsed, sitting on the bed that was just behind his knees.

Panting, it took a moment for his eyes to roll back to normal. "Were you born without a gag reflex, woman?"

"Had one, got rid of it."

"Is that even possible?" He looked at her.

The minx was smiling, almost laughing, whipping her mouth with the back of her hand; then she cleaned tears that had fallen during the exhausting process, and sniffed before removing the condom carefully. "Hard, but definitively possible."

"You seem amused," he said between pants.

"Two things. First, even you, almighty Doctor Taisho, have a funny orgasm face."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Do I?"

"You looked like you just took a stab to the stomach. For a second I thought I hurt you!"

He chuckled, although it was more like a wheeze. "It is something we have in common, then."

"I don't…!"

"I was watching intently. Yes, you do… What is that second thing?"

She huffed, but accepted the change in topic. "Got you red eyed. That's got to be something hard to do… Getting a taiyoukai out of control."

"Twice in a day is definitely worthy of the history books… How the _hell_ does one get rid of the gag reflex?"

"Don't take my job using my secrets, Doc…" He glared not too amused, and she climbed back up the bed by his side. "I'll just say I got to know a certain toothbrush very personally."

He scooted away from the end of the bed, and rested his head on a pillow, still naked in the almost absolute darkness. "Lucky him." She suddenly looked distressed, and he quirked a brow. "Higurashi, is something wrong?"

"I… Should I go? You look tired."

He frowned. "No, there is no need. I texted your boss, told him that in case you had no previous compromises, I would purchase your time for the whole day tomorrow, too. So you have no curfew. You can still sleep here, and I can do so elsewhere if so you desire."

"Umh, no, that's fine. The bathroom?"

He indicated her the way to the ensuite restroom in this area of the house, and watched her silhouette disappear in the darkness.

That was one dangerously addictive female, the taiyoukai mused. He wondered how much this caprice would end up costing him, not that he had any other extravagant tastes to waste money in. If it was regarding her, he decided, he'd treat himself rotten.

He rolled, plopping on his chest, head to the side, and noticed she had brought all her things to the bedroom. He also discovered the bag she carried was diminutive, now that he paid attention to it. Those 'Six Essentials' were supposed to fit in there… how was that even possible?

She returned from the bathroom, stretching her naked form, and Sesshomaru took her in with hungry eyes again.

Droplets of water rolled down from her neck to her chest, and her washed face was completely free of make-up. She looked away, embarrassed, and he smiled.

"You are definitely a piece of art."

And damn, was she addictive.


	6. Fuck Me Or Kill Me, The Second Essential

And every glittering kiss and every touch of flesh is another shard of heart you'll never see again.

 _Neil Gaiman_ , 'Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders'

* * *

 ** _Seven months and seventeen days previously_**

 **Chapter Six: Fuck Me Or Kill Me**

 **(Also known as 'The Second Essential: Keys')**

That son of a bitch!

Yeah, ok, fine. To hell with him! She didn't need that kind of guy around anyway. He was right, she'd take the normal route and she'd stay away from him.

She had been so sure he wanted her, she had practically begged… and he dared to refuse her! He was completely out of his mind, dismissing a girl who practically jumped him.

Two days after the night she spent at his penthouse where they had mind-blowing oral sex, he'd called again. Then again the next day; and there was a growing ache asking to be filled in her body. When she tried to seduce him… that bastard!

"Yi shildn't hive yir first time with a cliint… stupid dog asshole, telling me what I should and shouldn't do. Who does he think he is?" She mumbled under her breath.

"Kagome?"

She almost jumped, staring at the boy who was taking a seat in front of her.

A date. An actual, real, no-one's-getting-paid-to-fuck-you date. And she was thinking about that presumptuous jerk. "Hi, Hojo. Sorry, I was in my own little world. Didn't hear you coming."

He smiled softly while accepting the menu from the hands of the waiter, ignoring the glass of white wine in her grasp. "You know you can call me by my first name. Am I too late?"

"Nah, I got here ten minutes too early. Sorry, I just can't get the picture of not calling you 'Hojo'. It's just the force of habit."

Her Youkai History classmate gave her a forced smile. "If you'd rather the formalities, I can call you Higurashi."

"No!" She realized how loud that had come out, so she tried again, lying through her teeth. "Just call me Kagome. I like the way it sounds when you say it." There were already enough males who called her by her last name.

The boy blushed and grinned like an idiot. "Then I'll call you Kagome. Did you decide what to order?"

* * *

She was drunk, and she knew it. Drunk and kissing a guy at the entrance of her building, pressed against the wall while his hands had a field trip with her ass.

And she hated it.

He was messy, sloppy, inexperienced, dull… He was boring! His tongue was in her mouth, his hands were in her body, and still he lacked fire, life, passion…

"Should we go inside?" The boy asked in a timid voice in her ear. And she mentally rolled her eyes.

Drunk, but not that drunk.

"I don't think so… I'm tired," she said, extracting herself from his hold, or at least trying.

"C'mon, Kagome. I know you want to."

The girl growled. "Why does every dude think they know what I want and what I need better than me? Just get the hell out of here," she slurred.

He whined and insisted, but after a good ten minutes she got rid of the human boy. Kagome sighed.

She opened her purse to fetch her key, one of the Six Essentials she carried around whenever she met a customer… The fact that she had mentally prepared herself to blow Hojo, to let him touch her, to sleep with him… It was disgusting.

She glared at the pack of condoms in the depth of her bag, while she let herself in the building.

Waiting for the elevator, the girl growled. She wouldn't have been at that stupid date if it wasn't for Sesshomaru! With his whole 'you should have some boyfriend to be your first, since you will always remember it' bullshit…

If it wasn't because of his idea of romantic, meaningful relationships, she wouldn't have had to be advanced by Hojo, and his saliva wouldn't be all over her face!

She would call him, tell him what she thought of the icicle up his ass… He thought himself better than the others, and well, he was just one more idiot!

"Well, he's gonna hear me!"

She dug again in her purse and extracted her phone, dialing quickly. A voice answered almost immediately.

"Yes, doll?"

"Miroku, give me Sesshomaru's number!" She slurred.

"Babe, are you drunk?"

"Just give me his number! I've got something to tell him, and he's gonna listen to me…"

"Kagome, it's almost midnight. I don't think…"

"I really need it! You said you were my friend, why can't you help a sis out?" She pouted, entering her apartment after struggling to fit the key in the hole.

"I am your friend, and I am also helping you. This is known in the scientific community as a _drunkenus bootycallis_ , and it's often fatal."

"You just don't want me to see him off the clock," she growled.

"Don't accuse me of that shit. I told you when we started working together that whatever you did in your private life was your business. If I lose a customer but I keep you happy, I'm still winning. And he isn't even your customer anymore after that fit you threw the last time you saw him! So, go ahead, take that back."

She ignored his demand. "Please, I really need to talk to him." Miroku tensed on the other side of the line when he heard her sniff, talking again with a cracked voice. "I need to know why…"

He rolled his eyes, groaning. "Dammit, doll, that's not fair… Fine, you've got pen and paper?"

* * *

Sesshomaru's eyebrow quirked when he heard the ringtone of a text message go off at a quarter to midnight. He snatched the contraption, reading it quickly.

 _Warning: drunken Higurashi incoming. She guilt-tripped me, I couldn't refuse. Sorry and good luck!_

It was from her pimp, and he wondered if she was coming over for a second before the strident music of an incoming call caught his attention.

An unknown number. "Yes?" He purred.

For the sound of it, she had been ranting for a while now and he had picked up along the way. "… fault, all yours! God, his breath was awful, and he wanted to come upstairs. My face's all sticky, and it's no one's fault but yours! You lying asshole! You bastard! You…"

"Higurashi, calm down. What do you need?"

He heard her cry and almost jolt up from his seat. "I thought you did like me," she sniffed, ignoring his enquiry. "I thought that maybe you would be the first nice guy I ever came across… and you're just a jerk! I hate you! No, I don't hate you, I'm sorry, can you forgive me? I'm sorry. I just wanted to be with you, and you made me feel ugly and undeserving… I DO HATE YOU! YOU ASSHOLE!"

The line went dead, and Sesshomaru stared at the screen in shock. He considered calling back, when the music exploded again. He picked up the call. "Yes?"

"And you know what else? You're not as amazing as you think you are. You _snore_ , did you know, Mr. Perfection? How's that for the owner of the galaxy?"

She hung up again, and he guessed right when thinking it might ring once more.

He was also right when he deduced this would go on for the rest of the night or at least a large part of it.

* * *

Kagome groaned when a very inconvenient sunray shone straight into her eyes. She rolled on her back and dozed off, only to almost jump when the alarm went off.

"Dammit," she hissed when her head pounded unforgivingly. Immediately she ran to the bathroom where her stomach made her paid for all the alcohol she'd had the previous day.

She stepped into the shower, taking her panties off once under the cool, soothing water.

She was surprised she had slept practically naked. It wasn't something she did often, and for a second she recalled the events of the previous night.

When she remembered calling Sesshomaru repeatedly, she panicked…

She didn't invite him over, did she?

Her body slid down the cold tile and the girl sat on the floor. How she'd wish she had been drunk enough not to remember, but she could recall way too much of her rant to the taiyoukai… and yes, inviting him over several times.

He had declined, repeating the same reasons over and over again, asking her not to cry, telling her to drink water and go to sleep.

Damn sweet motherfucker… If she thought she felt embarrassed when he had heard her comments regarding his flowers, she had no idea. This was a whole new level of humiliation, and she didn't like it one bit.

Sighing and stepping out of the shower, she wounded her hair in a towel, put some underwear on, and went to the kitchen to dwell on breakfast.

Drinking a whole bottle of water in two sips and taking an aspiring was a good plan, and she set herself to do it when she heard her phone ring from her bedroom.

She winced at the sound, and got to make it stop sooner rather than later.

Kagome wondered who the owner of the unknown number could be, sliding a thumb across the screen and speaking in a hushed voice. "Yes?"

"You owe me an apology," Sesshomaru said in amusement on the other side of the line.

"Oh, fuck…"

"You sound sleepy; I did not wake you up, did I?"

"I cracked an eye open about fifteen minutes ago. You were close."

"I waited until a… convenient time."

She glanced at the clock, seeing the needles indicate it was almost 2 p.m. "Shit, I slept right through the day."

"You were up until ungodly hours. I got calls from you well until past dawn." She grumbled, he chuckled. "Hangover or still drunk?"

"I'm not really sure yet."

"Drink water and…"

"…Have some aspiring, yes, I know."

"So you were not drunk enough to forget everything, am I correct?"

She groaned. "I wish I was. Probably I'm gonna go thump my head against the wall to kill what's left of my neurons. That way I can claim ignorance."

"It will not improve your headache."

She smiled. "No, I guess it won't… God, I feel like shit."

"Personally, I believe you deserve some of that pain."

"Oh, _do I_?"

"You called me very nasty things last night."

"You made me angry."

"This Sesshomaru was simply trying to be a gentleman."

"Doc, when a girl… agh, you know what? It doesn't matter. Not anymore anyway. I'm gonna go drink a lake and munch an aspirin factory. Now if you excuse me…"

"Higurashi…" he said in a musical, bemused tone.

She glared at the phone. "What?"

"My apology."

"He-hey! I'm not apologizing! It's not like I had too much control over my brain-mouth filter anyway!"

"You were lucid enough to get my phone number out of your boss."

"Isn't it enough compensation that I feel like a parade stomped on me?"

"Mh… No. I demand my apology. I have delivered the ones I owed you in time. You should reciprocate."

"I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself to feel sorry about last night too."

He was about to deliver a sly comment when he heard her gurgle. "I assume you are paying for your decisions last night. What could possibly make you want to get that drunk anyway?"

After a minute, she sighed and retook the phone. "I followed your advice and went on a date. I got drunk because I wanted to forget the guy was there at all."

"Are you sweating? Drink that water. I can wait."

She sighed and walked back to the kitchen, where she downed a whole glass with slow sips, not to upset her stomach further.

"There, happy?"

"Still sounds like you need coffee."

"I'm not leaving this apartment today. It's Sunday, so I'm gonna stay here and hide under my blanket from the real world."

"I know a delivery service."

"For coffee?"

"Yes, I can arrange that for you. Anything you would like to order in particular?"

"Lots of sugar, lots of cream."

"Your address?"

She was about to protest that he couldn't know her address, when she realized he already had her phone and wasn't even a customer anymore. Quickly she dictated the location of her apartment. Besides, he had made it clear he had no further intentions with her, so what was there to worry about? "Thanks."

"I have not forgotten that apology. Once you feel better, I shall demand it again."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll file your protest."

"Please do. Your coffee should be there in twenty minutes, maybe thirty, according to the service's standards."

"Perfect. Well, I guess I'll see you around, Doc," she said rather rudely to express she didn't really want to be talking to him right now.

"Of course, Higurashi."

The line went dead.

She sighed and walked to the bathroom, where she thoroughly brushed her teeth and tongue to get rid of the flavor of alcohol coming up. Puking had done wonders, and she already felt much better. A nap, a cup of coffee and she would be as good as new.

After untangling her hair, she fell flat on the bed and dozed off again. It felt like the blink of an eye, but those twenty to thirty minutes must have passed, because there was a knock on her door.

She shimmed her way into a pair of jean shorts and a tank top, and went to get the delivery boy.

"How much is it?" She asked, while searching into her wallet and opening the door.

"On the house."

She almost fell when Sesshomaru handed her the hot paper cup, sipping from his own, hiding his smirk behind the rim. "What…! What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Apparently I deliver coffee now. You?"

"I… I'm… This is my house! I live here!"

"So I see. Coffee?" He handed her the large cup, and she stared in disbelief. "I would rather you had it. I hate wasting food and I do not particularly enjoy so much sugar."

She glared and snatched the container from his hand. "Idiot… What do you think you're doing here anyway? I don't take customers here."

He shook his head. "I am not your customer anymore; you made that clear. Besides, I only brought coffee. There is nothing I have come to ask from you."

Her eyes narrowed, but then she huffed, amused. _You and your loopholes in my rules._

"Come in. I've got cookies somewhere inside."

He stepped into the apartment and she kicked the door closed. He slid out of his shoes not to ruin the traditional flooring of the apartment, and watched her walking barefoot towards the small kitchen and rummaging in some shelves, before exclaiming a victorious 'aha!' and delivering a closed package of chocolate dry cookies.

"Have a seat." She sat on the counter and sipped her cup. "Oh, this is good, come to mama."

He smirked. "How was your date? You rambled so much I could not make sense of what happened."

Kagome sighed. "He's studying Japanese History, and we share a class on YH… He's nice and all but…"

"But?"

"He paid for the dinner, made small talk, complimented my dress…"

"That does not sound too bad."

"God, is he lame… He's definitely not my type of guy."

"Why?"

"Well, he's human, to begin with."

His eyebrows rose. "Do you, personally, prefer youkai to other humans?"

She looked down at her feet that balanced in the air. "Yeah, I always have… My family's disgusted that I liked spending so much time with demons. When they realized I liked one for the first time…" She shook her head with a small smile. "I really don't like talking about that… But, yeah, I like youkai better. They're more fun."

"Mh. Curious."

"Excuse me?"

"I feel similar to humans. More fun, different, frail, exciting. When I was younger I convinced myself of hating them after my father abandoned his mate for a human woman. After the years went by, and my relationship with my half-brother became less bloodthirsty, I… grew up." She cocked her head. "I realized I had no true motive to despise humans, but I was already surrounded by close circle of youkai. During the last century or so I started indulging my curiosity regarding your species. I thought I was pursuing my fascination to the limit with my newest project, studying the conception and development of hanyou, but I was wrong. You, Higurashi, are the culmination of that humored interest."

She looked away, face red and some anger rising up. _So you're just experimenting with humans?_

Sesshomaru chuckled. "I am glad I allowed myself the chance to give it a try. Someday the world will have to know I am a pervert who enjoys getting personal with creatures of a different species, so I am also glad it was an experience pleasant enough to be worth the trouble."

"And the youkai girls?"

"Never really enjoyed any of my encounters with them as I did with the few I had with you… even if our activities were… _limited_."

"Well, whose fault is that!" She hissed before changing the topic, ignoring the growing desire that pooled in her lower abdomen and the sadness that constricted her heart. "I took a very controversial class about the sexual interaction between demons and humans. There's even terminology for that."

"I was not aware of it."

"Yep. I think you might be a _brotophile_."

"Really?"

"Means you like humans. Comes from Greek, I think, meaning 'mortal'. So it literally means you get the hots for mortal people."

"Mortal women, I would say. Or _you_ to be more specific."

She blushed and ignored the comment. _So it's about_ _ **me**_ _, not just because I'm human._ "And I'm a _therophile_ , which is a horrible, horrible term and I hate it."

"What does it mean?"

" _Ther_ means a wild fantastical beast. It's calling youkai magical animals and it basically accuses humans who like them of practicing bestiality."

"In my opinion, these names make little sense."

"Oh, but it gets better. To talk about all the people who're into the other species, either youkai or human, the correct term is _hostiphile_. You know where that comes from? _Hostile_ , enemy. Could it be any more stupid? It makes it sound like we're still living in DI3."

"The Third Demon Inquisition never really ended, Higurashi. Youkai and humans never really decided to get along. They just were forced to coexist or annihilate each other completely. Peace and a truce are two very different things."

Kagome sighed. "It's so stupid. And I hate that they make us learn these things. It's like… they're teaching us to be inter-species ambassadors, but at the same time they remind us we are different and that mixing is wrong. It's disgusting."

"It sounds like you took a lot of shit when you were with that youkai boyfriend of yours."

She let out a bitter laugh. "And it wasn't even worth it… We liked each other for a long while, and started talking about dating as soon as I finished school… We didn't want to waste time in the counselor's office hearing that this was just a phase… I decided to go to his university, since he graduated a year before me. See, my family's from Kyoto, and they were ok when I told them I was moving to Tokyo for college… But when they realized I was moving to be with my youkai _special friend_ …"

She went quiet for a long while, and Sesshomaru mentally kicked himself for bringing up a topic so obviously painful. "Higurashi, if you would rather not talk about it…"

She smiled sadly. "Mom was so disappointed, but my grandfather lost it. He accused me of being a filthy demon's whore, a disgrace for the family, a stain in the Higurashi name…"

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's ok," she said with a shrug. "It was my fault, really. I never told you, but my family guards an ancient Shrine and there are lots of purification wielders and youkai control agents with our last name. I should have known better. You're not angry, are you?"

That, he decided, was a topic he would dwell on later. He had still not come across an explanation for the reaction he got when tasting her, but this new information made The Miko Theory a whole deal more possible.

"Of course not. What happened with him?"

"Oh, _that_ … His family found out too, that we were getting too close, and they transferred him to another school to keep him away from me… One would think he was old enough to make his own decisions, but he went to daddy, tail between his legs, like a very obedient puppy."

"Dog youkai?"

"Not quite. Same pack dynamics, though."

 _Ah_ , he thought. _He would never give up his pack for a mate._

"And you were alone on the other side of the country," he whispered.

"Yep. Homeless too, since I was supposed to move in with him. I couldn't pay the extra charge for a room at the campus… and the rest is history. God, I was so stupid… Yeah, we had been friends forever, but I was ready to move in with him without having even kissed him. We both knew we weren't just friends anymore."

He saw her relive the spiral that had drowned her. "It must have been hard."

"Yeah," she mused, sipping her coffee. "It is… Anyway, what you've been up to these last few days?"

"Working, what else. And it will successfully drive me crazy."

"Oh, you need a hobby to release your stress."

"I had one, actually."

"And?"

"She yelled at me and took off."

"Oh, come on," she said, glaring playfully. "What did you expect me to do? I've been more embarrassed since I met you than I had during my whole life before."

"It is certainly a shame. But, well, I remain firm in my decision. You should not lose your virginity with a customer."

"It should be my call, don't you think?"

"Of course I could not stop you if you simply went to another client and jumped into bed with him. But it will not be me."

She smiled but then bit her lip. "So, missing me has been worth it in exchanged for a clean conscience?"

"I have not yet determined that," he said while rubbing his chin, the other hand drumming claws on the kitchen counter.

He looked at her with a half-smile, and his eyes _burned._

 _Ok, that's it._

She smirked, downing the last of her coffee. "I think I have a solution for your dilemma."

"Do you?"

"Yep." She swung her legs and jumped off the island, walking towards him and snatching the cup from his grasp, leaving it on the counter. Her hand came to brush his white tie between thumb and forefinger, and he swallowed. "But before, tell me, what are you doing here? And I want the truth."

He rumbled approvingly, caressing the displayed skin of the back of her leg, going from the knee up, stopping in the verge of her shorts, and placing his hand on her waist. Her whole body reacted. "Missing you happens to be hard."

"So you wanted to see me?"

He leaned forward, pressing his cheek against her shoulder, trailing her collarbone with his nose. "Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting…"

 _Ask me to stay_ , he begged.

She let out a small moan when his tongue brushed her throat. "I think I get the picture… You know…" She moved and sat on his lap, straddling his legs and pressing herself against his already hard manhood, letting her arms hang around his shoulders, and speaking while brushing his lips with hers. "Since I'm here, you're here… and I don't take customers in my apartment."

"So you are finally getting the hint," he purred, pressing her harder against his cock and making her moan.

"Are you sure you're not a penny pincher who's just trying to get his way with me without paying?"

He smirked. "I guess you'll never know."

She wanted to say something sly, something sexy, make him even harder, but instead, she let out a relieved sigh. "I'm so glad you changed your mind…"

"Higurashi, I have not. It's impossible not to want you. Like this, in your bed, in your house, under your terms, I can be sure everything is the way you want it, and that I'm not just the customer who finally cracked your will. I'm sorry I made you feel unworthy. You deserve everything I can give and more."

"So it's really just that? You want to be just a normal guy in my bed?"

"In a way. On the other hand, did you not listen to your teachers? There is nothing normal about us. We are freaks"

She leaned and kissed him softly. "Yeah, but as long as we are freaks who have good sex, I can live with the shame."

He returned the gesture, nibbling her lips, flicking his tongue, caressing her lower back with one hand and her thigh with the other. After a minute, he released her from the tender attention. "Are you certain?"

"Sesshomaru, if you don't take me to the bedroom right now I swear I'm gonna have to kill you."

His loins tightened, nostrils flared, and the scent of her desire invaded his senses. He could remember the way she tasted, and he wanted more.

Collecting her in his arms, pressing her core against his pounding length, he crossed the living room towards the corridor. He pushed the first door open and discovered there was no bed whatsoever in there.

She giggled, pressing kisses to his neck and ear. "That's the bathroom. My bedroom's right there, end of the hall."

Before she could say another word, he rushed ahead and threw the door open. This time he kissed her wildly, passionately, just the way he wanted.

Not breaking the connection of their lips, he settled her in the bed, kneeling on the floor and throwing away the wet towel that was still on her covers.

His hands fisted in her tank top and his claws tore the fabric with a loud rip, his fingers immediately massaged a hardened nipple that he took in his mouth after a moment.

She gasped, then frowned playfully. "I rather liked that shirt."

He tugged at the peak with his fangs, causing her to moan loudly. "I didn't," he said, not releasing the point, before flicking his tongue quickly over and over again.

Kagome's hands twisted in his hair, and she pulled him closer. His hands were all over the place, and she undid the knot of his tie and the buttons of his black shirt, sliding her hands against his hot pale skin and letting half of his clothes drop to the ground.

Her scent, for heaven's sake… There hadn't been anything even close to that delicious perfume that called him in the most primitive way. He had to have her, or he could simply go insane.

The world may never know, but it had required every last ounce of his self-control to wait for the right circumstances. _This is good, this is how it should happen._

He was proud of his decision.

Sesshomaru's left hand cupped her ass and the other all but ripped the buttons of her shorts, pulling down and leaving her in nothing but panties. He stepped away for a minute, panting, staring at the display of perfection almost completely naked in front of him.

Words failed and he growled. Kagome realized it wasn't a threatening sound, but a pleased one. She gulped.

He knelt on the floor at the end of her bed again, pulling her closer by the hips, slowly getting rid of the final scrap of pink cotton. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder, her chest, her navel. Finally, he nudged her legs to spread, and his mouth watered in anticipation.

"This time," she said in a breathy voice, "try not to make me pass out."

He smirked, but made no promises while locking her legs behind his head. His tongue stroke slowly for the first time, and he snarled, trying to remain in control. A kiss, a lick, and he realized he couldn't restrain himself.

He dove in, and Kagome screamed. With quick laps and nips, she breathed his name. When he sucked her clit hard, she came and he drank the proof of her orgasm with a pleased rumble.

Again, and again, like nothing else in the world could matter, he relished in her flavor, in the way she squirmed, screamed, and moaned, keeping her in place to continue his favorite task. He got rid of his claws like the first time, and using his fingers, he stretched her passage, preparing her for what was to come.

After a particularly strong peak, Kagome's eyes rolled back from her head, and she tightened the hand she had fisted in his bangs. "Stop! S-Sesshomah- oh, God…"

He growled threateningly, like a dog defending his food bowl, but she looked down at him, panting, beautiful, inviting. "Nothing could taste better…" he said breathily.

She swallowed, trying to focus in finding her own voice, adoring the red tint that barely touched the rim of his eyes. "Come here... you're supposed to be fucking me senseless right now."

The heat in her eyes, the promise of her words, made Sesshomaru's cock throb painfully.

He climbed up the bed to join her, and her hands caressed his skin, missing the contact they had been denied. He kissed her, letting her taste herself, smirking against her lips when her shaking fingers undid his pants.

He helped her, and after a moment they were both naked, her skin pressed against his, and it felt too good for words.

She sighed, and pressed dripping core against the head of his cock, locking her legs around his waist, letting just the tip to start sliding in, so slowly, so tortuously.

A voice in his head complained on his stupidity, but still, he spoke. "Higurashi, stop."

She looked up at him with eyes as big as plates and blinked. "You _have_ to be kidding me…"

He wheezed, shaking his head. "Condom. You're fertile right now, I can smell it."

"Oh, right…" She slipped from his hold and snatched her bag from the side of the full sized bed, where it had been left forgotten the night before. She tore the silver square with her fingers and after a second, she looked up at him, announcing she was ready.

He swallowed hard, kissing her neck and biting down softly, moaning when her legs rounded his body once more. "Are you su-?"

"Fuck me right now or I'll punch you," she said, covering his mouth with a hand, and she felt his smile behind her palm. "Also…"

"What is it?" He inquired, retreating from her grasp with a worried expression.

"Kagome. My name is Kagome."

He repeated the word, letting it roll out of his lips, savoring how it felt in his mouth. "Kagome…"

"Yes… Now," she pressed her soaking apex against his erection. "We were in the middle of something."

He smiled and lined his length with her entrance, before slowly pushing in. When she moaned loudly, he pressed forward, parting her, filling her, until he was completely flush against her body.

Tight. Insanely, scorching, deliciously tight. She looked up at him and he saw the most amazed expression.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little," she whispered. "But it feels good."

He smelled the tang of her arousal mixed with copper. "You're bleeding," he said apologetically.

"I know. I don't care. Just…" She bit her lip. "Please…"

He nodded. The second he pulled away only to pump inside of her, she was completely lost in bliss.

Little by little he moved faster, harder, following her commands and wishes. Soon, she was meeting his thrusts, discovering the most delicious feeling she had never known.

It hurt, sharp and rough, but she liked it. She loved it. The feeling of his hands in her body, of the angle of her spine, led to the build-up. _Yes, please, more._

When her passage tightened in an orgasm around his shaft, and she cried out her peak, he almost lost it. The aftershocks strangled the life out of him in contractions so delicious he had to fight his desire to thrust desperately into her body.

She arched under his frame, screamed his name, moaned, nails biting the pale skin of his back, orgasm after orgasm forced out of her body, until he couldn't take it anymore. His movements became jerkier, and he snarled her name, pushing further, touching places she didn't know she had, exploding in a climax that left him seeing black around the edges, his cock pounding and causing her to deliver one final orgasm with a cry that was music to his ears.

He collapsed, barely holding his weight from crushing her small form, before retreating from her depths and falling by her side.

Covered in sweat, she looked at him and smiled, wheezing. "God, don't you… _ever_ dare to deny me that again."

He swallowed, shaking his head. "Never," he breathed.

* * *

Sesshomaru woke up surprised he had fallen asleep at all. The absolute darkness didn't prevent him from seeing her bedroom, completely turned upside down after he took her on every visible surface. The heavy scent of sex and sweat still lingered in the air.

Tokyo thrived behind her thick, closed curtains, and he walked to the window, opening a drape and looking thirty stories down below.

From up there, the people walking in the sidewalk looked as insignificant as their opinions were. Sesshomaru was glad he had had sex with Kagome Higurashi. The first and every time after that had been the most pleasurable experience of his life, and he definitely planned on doing so again. If anyone had something against it, they could very much go to hell.

He turned, immediately noticing the scrap of paper on her nightstand, which sported his name in curly, girly handwriting. He unfolded the letter and read the contents.

 _On the house_ , it said, and he chuckled, grasping the reference immediately. _I went to fetch us some dinner. I hope you like Chinese. Make yourself comfortable, you snoring dog._

Sesshomaru shook his head.

This girl...


	7. Speak The Truth, The Third Essential

Love me as though there were no tomorrow  
Take me out of this world tonight  
Take me, make me forget my sorrow  
So, when I wake tomorrow, I'll know our love was right

Kiss me as though it were now or never  
Teach me all that a heart should know  
Love me as though there were no tomorrow  
Oh, my darling, love me, don't ever let me go

 _Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh,_ 'Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow'

* * *

 _ **Seven months and fourteen days previously**_

 **Chapter Seven: Speak The Truth**

 **(Also known as 'The Third Essential: Makeup')**

Sesshomaru awoke in a tangle of sheets and to the sound of a giggle.

He cracked an eye open, and saw her nude form opening the curtains, revealing the still dark sky and staring at him.

"You're too large for my bed," she commented, seeing how his feet dangled from the end of the mattress.

"Your bed is too small for me," he corrected, and she returned by his side, kissing his lips softly, and then jolting away with a playful laugh.

Oh, a chase… she knew too many ways to please his predatory side.

The small bedroom was crossed in no time, and she found herself soon pressed against her wardrobe, kissed intently and moaning again. She giggled when his tongue tickled her neck, but she tried to regain some composure. "Sesshomaru! I've got class to attend to!"

"Hnn," he hummed, nudging her legs apart with his knee and pressing his thigh against her apex, causing her to moan.

"I'm serious! I can't miss it, the attendance counts for the final grading!"

He ignored her voice, pressing harder and biting her milky skin.

She gasped mockingly. "How irresponsible of you! To distract a student from her academic priorities…! I would have guessed you'd be interested in my grades, with as many scholarship programs as your company offers…"

"This Sesshomaru has faith you are a good student, Kagome. Surely missing one class will not affect your grades. Besides…" He took hold of her thighs and scooped her in his arms, entwining her ankles behind his back and pressing her against his pounding and seemingly ever-present hardness. "…Who said you will not be learning while I am here?"

"I really need to go to class! The professor is a sadist…"

He sighed dramatically. "Very well, I will behave."

She smiled brightly. "Now, sir, could you let me down at the bathroom? I'd like to take a shower before going, since it doesn't take a demonic nose to know what we were up to yesterday. If you continue with your exemplary behavior, you may join me."

He nodded solemnly, taking his cargo to the other room, when he suddenly hissed softly.

"What is it?" She asked, surprised.

"Remember I slashed my claws last night? Well," he sat heavily on the mattress. "I forgot to pick them up." She tried to step down, but he held on tight.

"You're bleeding! I've got a first aid kit in the bathroom."

"Put on the thickest slippers you have. They are venomous."

She gasped. "Should we go to the hospital? I'll call an ambulance, hang on."

"No, there is no need. I am immune to my own toxins to a degree. It will only slow the healing. It will bleed for a while."

She put on a pair of socks and slippers, scurried and came back with a white box. For a second, he wondered why a teen had a complete first aid kit in her house, but got distracted when she asked to see his foot.

He stopped her from touching the wound, since he had already extracted the claw while she was gone. He cleaned the dripping blood, and she bandaged it with tape. "You're such an airhead… Is it too tight?"

"No, it is fine," he chuckled, picking up the remaining four deadly tips. "Let's go take that shower."

* * *

Sesshomaru's hands were in his pockets, and Kagome's face was tinted a dark red while they traveled towards the train station.

"You didn't have to walk me…"

"I still insist."

She played with a lock of her hair. "Everyone will see you with a human."

"I fail to care."

She flushed harder. "But your company… I've seen at least three people snap pictures of us."

"As far as the press knows I am only walking a potential employee to her train." When she stopped dead in her tracks, he whirled, cocking an eyebrow. "Kagome?"

She whispered. "You can't possibly think I'm working for your company after…"

"After sleeping together?" He chuckled at her attempt to shush him. "Kagome, you are over-complicating things."

She stopped in front of the turnstile, fidgeting in place. "It _is_ complicated. You can't be the boss who got me the interview and the guy I'm… seeing," she let out in a mute murmur.

"I gave you the interview before even laying a finger on you."

"Yeah, because you were trying to get into my pants…"

"Then I cannot see you anymore," he said as if it meant nothing. "This internship is far too important for your future."

She scowled and looked away, feeling a lump in her stomach. "You're making choices for me again."

"I am simply working on the rules you have provided. Some things should be a priority."

She sighed. "I guess you're right… that doesn't mean I don't want it all."

"Why can you not have me?"

Kagome shrugged. "It wouldn't be right."

"Would you then be my provider of stress relief again?" Her eyes darted to his. "It would make things only business between us. You provide a service for me, and simultaneously work for Taisho Group." When she averted her eyes and her scent took a turn for misery, he hooked a finger under her chin. "You have needs, and you have rules, Kagome." The murmur of the slithering train filled the place, and a strong wind whipped their hair in a mass of black and silver. "This changes nothing. What happened last night… for my part, it was an entirely personal decision. I hope it was the same for you."

She sighed. "We'll talk about this later… That's my train, I've gotta go."

He nodded, before leaning and kissing her lips tenderly, ripping gasps of shock from the people passing.

Kagome looked up at him, face red, stuttering a goodbye, before making a mad dash for the wagon before the doors closed.

Sesshomaru saw her fingers touching her dangling mouth as she disappeared when the first train of the day took off. The taiyoukai smirked, ignoring the hateful murmur rippling around him.

Walking back towards his parked car, he procured his phone and his thumb slid across the screen. After several long rings, a sleepy voice answered the call. "Good morning Mr. Taisho, what can we do for you?"

"Who is it this early?" A female voice whispered in the back.

"A customer, Sango. Go back to sleep." The taiyoukai heard footsteps and a door closing. "Forgive me, Mr. Taisho. How can I serve you?" He repeated.

"Higurashi," he simply stated.

"Ah, yes, I learnt there was a… disagreement between the two of you. Was she too impertinent the night before yesterday?"

A chuckle. "Impertinent is a way to say it, yes. Do you usually pass around the contact information of your clients?"

On the other side, Miroku smiled. "Doctor, it would take Higurashi ten minutes and an internet connection to get your phone number. You did not refer to her in anonymity, after all. I only shortened the process for her given her… insistence."

"Yes, Kagome _is_ a tenacious one," he purred.

"Of course. You have to forgive her bluntness; she was very upset giv… What did you just call her?"

"Kagome. It is her name, am I correct?" He chuckled at the stunned silence. "So she said yesterday."

"Ah, should I infer you two have reached a truce?"

A memory of the girl's slick entrance welcoming him over and over again on every visible surface formed in his mind. "Yes, one could say that," he replied in a tone slightly husky.

Miroku grinned knowingly. "I'm very glad. Still, I have to ask, what can I do for you?"

"There is something… how to explain it… _odd_ about Kagome's body. Maybe, as your employer, you could provide some answers."

"Oh, I could never divulge information about one of my girls."

It was Sesshomaru's turn to grin. "It would take me ten minutes alone with her to get my questions responded. You could shorten the process, since I am insisting."

Miroku remained silent, and then let out a bark of laughter. "Well, ah… I believe I could meet you for an amiable chat about a common friend."

They set a place and time, and the line went dead.

* * *

Kagome sprinted to make it on time to the classroom where the Youkai Traditions class was taking place, sitting while the elephant demoness entered the room, settling her suitcase on the desk.

The movement of the girl caught her attention, however, and she took a deep sniff through her nose. She scowled. "Higurashi Kagome."

The girl almost jumped. "Y-yes, professor?"

"You stay after class, there's something I need to talk to you about. Now, let's go back to Chapter Six, 'Mating Rites' for today's lesson."

The day went by, and Kagome's nervousness was palpable for every other student around her. Ms. Washirika Msiri was a ruthless professor, and no one wanted to get in trouble if she was involved. After the three bells announced the period was over, Kagome walked timidly towards the pachyderm, staring from under her lashes.

The woman was tall and thick. She had short, black hair, two prominent tusks emerging from her full lips, a long, broad snub nose, and eyes filled with sagacity. Her heritage marks flanked the angles of her face in the form of white dots that contrasted her chocolate skin.

"Did you want to see me, professor?"

"Yes, Higurashi, have a sit." The demon waited for every single student to leave the room before closing the door and locking it. Kagome gulped. "Taisho."

The girl paled, but she refused to turn herself in. "Ma'am?"

"Taisho Sesshomaru, I met him about a hundred and sixty three years ago, when we founded this university, since he was a possible benefactor. He was so determined on not admitting human alumni… I wouldn't ever have guessed he'd be screwing one, especially not one in my class."

"I… I-"

"Don't try to lie to an elephant demon, girl. I can not only smell deception, but also hear your heartbeat…"

The eldest walked around the desk and sat on her place, looking at the panicking human in front of her, and chuckling with a deep, resounding voice.

"You're too young, too pretty, and too stupid to get involved into something so complex… Do you love him?"

That pushed the last of Kagome's buttons. She jolted up from her seat, face red, fists clenched. "I don't have to answer any of your questions!"

The pachyderm smiled, but otherwise ignored the student's short temper. "Showering after a night with your lover dog could be enough to fool any other nose, but not mine. I can tell, Higurashi, that you either sleep around or are a hooker; and I don't care in either case. You always smell of an old reminiscent of latex and some demonic stud… It's fine, I've smelled worse with this old trunk of mine… But I've never smelled a kiss on you, girl, that's why I'm asking… Your boys they're always faded by a shower, washed away… Taisho is so clear in your lips it's like he had kissed you goodbye at the classroom's door..."

Tears of frustration were building in the corners of Kagome's eyes. She sniffed her anger.

"If you don't love him, it's not worth it, child. Take it from this old youkai who lost her human mate too long ago."

Kagome's eyes darted to the dark beads shining on the other side of the desk. "You… you were mated to a human?"

"All too many centuries ago, yeah. When I was young and at home. Oh, my Mwenye, I'm still waiting to find him once more in another lifetime… But I'm too old now, would he even recognize me?"

The human's heart constricted. "I had no idea…"

"Of course not, girl. No halfers, no family… He's gone, and he only still exists because I remember him." She smiled softly, both tusks shining. "Taisho ain't stupid, girl. He knows that kiss tells the world enough. Why is that? C'mon, show me what you've learnt from my class."

The interrogatory-turned-exam immediately had Kagome on edge again, and she panicked for a moment before answering. "Well, dog youkai conserve the instinct of mating for life. So, I guess they're territorial of their females… Meaning he doesn't want any other male nearby?"

"Nicely done, kid. So, you agree he's got his eye on you?"

"What? No, of course not! I know youkai can act aside of their instinct too… It's just a fling, nothing more."

The youkai nodded. "Could be, yeah. But why risk his reputation by letting the world know?" She stood. "Take it from me, kid. It'll bring more trouble than it's worth it. Out now, and I'll see you next week."

Kagome wasted no time grabbing her stuff and fleeing. The grave voice stopped her, however. "Also, Higurashi… put on some lipstick. It'll mask his smell. And use lemon juice when showering."

"Yes, Professor Msiri."

* * *

Miroku's smile reflected on the still surface of his coffee cup. "A miko?"

"I have pondered this situation for over a week. There is no other explanation that comes to my mind."

The pimp looked outside the window of his office. "How could you describe this strange reaction?"

Sesshomaru thought for a minute, then shrugged. "She set me on fire."

"In the good or the bad sense?"

"Both."

The human smiled. "Well, Higurashi _is_ an atypical girl… I've heard the description for the perfect woman is 'a virgin with the knowledge of a whore', wouldn't you think she fits perfectly?"

The taiyoukai's eyebrow quirked. "Kagome is not a virgin."

The other looked surprised. "No?" He asked, testing his information on his own employee.

A smirk. "Not since yesterday."

The pander laughed. "I guess I should have known. An innocent prostitute, a human, and now, you say, a purification wielder. One of a kind."

"One of a kind," Sesshomaru agreed.

"But, if she were indeed a demon counter, shouldn't she be fiercely guarded by others of her kind?"

"I cannot explain it either, but nothing else makes sense."

Miroku smiled and sipped his coffee. "I can't tell you about Kagome's spiritual powers, if she has any. But I do know…"

Barriers dropped, and a flood of reiki engulfed the room, completely surrounding the demon, sending his hair whipping madly, like in the train station hours before.

The grin on the monk's face widened. "…that these abilities _can_ be hidden."

* * *

Kagome applied on some blueberry flavored lip-gloss almost frantically, successfully masking the aroma of the overly-amorous taiyoukai for the fifth time today. She boarded the train and checked her phone, surprised when she found a text from him.

 _Dinner?_

Yeah… it was time to have a that conversation.

* * *

They talked. She didn't cry.

Deciding to settle on being her client and employer, it was determined this would be their last night seeing each other extra-officially. With that notion in mind, they reached a tacit agreement of enjoying the shit out of it.

Kagome couldn't stop thinking of her professor's words, but she managed to relax, at least until Sesshomaru lowered his sakazuki and stared into her blue eyes. "Kagome… You said you came of a family with many purification wielders… Were you ever tested?"

She immediately knew he wasn't asking out of curiosity. "Why?"

He answered frankly. "Kissing you… it always sends tingles through my body… I assumed it was the excitement of finally following my desires. But when I _taste_ you… something happens. It's like my body was set ablaze. It hurts but…" The girl in front of him paled, and he rose from his seat, quickly placing a hand on her shoulder. "…Kagome?" He turned to a waiter, requesting a glass of water immediately. "Are you alright?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She whispered. "I could have killed you!"

"You… knew?"

She looked around at the small crowd focused on them. Kagome swallowed, cold sweat and a tremor spreading under her skin. "Let's go. We can't talk about this here."

He scooped her up in his arms, indicating the service to send the check, before taking her quickly back to the car. In his stomach, a knot of panic formed. Something was _wrong_.

The diver took off to his boss's apartment, closing the soundproof screen at the taiyoukai's request for privacy.

"Kagome, what is it?"

She chewed on her lower lip, still shaking. "I could've hurt you…"

"Please, tell me what is going on."

She sighed. "I'm… I'm a…"

Like earlier, a wave of pure energy enveloped him, but this time it was not imposing or daunting, but gentle and peaceful. Still, the amount of power her tiny frame released was far, far larger than the monk's.

"I'm sorry, Sesshomaru, I should've told you… I'm a purification wielder. I thought I had every leak blocked, I didn't even think it was possible for you to get in contact with my powers like that."

"Kagome, it's ok. Calm down and tell me… how is it that you aren't under the supervision of others?"

"Nobody knows… I learnt to block it when I was barely more than a toddler. Everyone thought my powers just went away, you know, it can happen. Locking them in is so hard for an adult, believing a child could do it was unthinkable… I saw them test my brother, and when he came up negative, they repeated the exams over and over again, until there wasn't a single part of him that hadn't been pinched, cut, or analyzed… They scared me, so when I turned five and they came to take me, I pretended I couldn't do 'the magic' anymore. They left me alone, I was a disappointment, and my only friends were the youkai who were as scared of the purification wielders as me."

He caressed her hair, and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, it's ok."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be... I never felt a pure energy so gentle before… It is always aggressive, like a trigger warning. Your aura…"

She looked up at him, guilt still plain in her eyes.

"It soothes me."


	8. The Calm

...The stormy clouds demand attention,  
And the wind can't be ignored,  
It's the love of building tension,  
Just before the violent storm...

 _Katherine Hump_

* * *

 _ **Seven months and eleven days previously**_

 **Chapter Eight: The Calm**

 _You don't love him_

"How did it go?" He asked, receiving her coat and inviting her to take a sit.

The interview had taken place right after her Youkai Traditions class, on Monday afternoon. Seeing Professor Msiri again had been hard, but it was all forgotten when she had to sprint to the train station so she wouldn't be late.

"I… I think I did well."

"I am certain you did."

"And if I didn't?"

"You will just have to try again. I will help you."

"Sesshomaru, you can't…"

"Kagome, stop. I believe in you. You deserve this out of your own merit. You just have to stop punishing yourself and believe you have earned it."

She glared. "Why would I be punishing myself?"

"Because you could almost, in some way, very improbably, have killed me?" He chuckled and raised his hands in surrender. "You are the one who said so."

Kagome huffed. "You don't know what I'm capable of doing…"

His hand entwined with hers and he pulled her against his body. "Yes, I know. That is why I have absolute faith in you."

* * *

 _ **Seven months and nine days previously**_

 _You don't love him_.

His lips on her throat, fangs scratching, questing hands, moans. "Stop holding back."

"I'm… I'm afraid."

"You would never hurt me, Kagome. I trust you. Now, trust yourself."

Like water spilling on glass, her restrains receded. Holy power washed against his skin, and he snarled. "Does it hurt?"

"Nothing could feel better," his voice purred.

She giggled, looking into his red rimmed eyes, taking in the beads of sweat on his brow. "So, a masochist, huh?"

He huffed a smirk, before guiding her to the bed, massaging a nipple between thumb and forefinger, biting softly on her pulse point. "You enjoy this pain as well."

"But…" She moaned hen his teeth tightened around her shoulder. "It's different… It's not just for the pain itself, it's the danger."

He slithered down, suckling hard on a tense peak. "Danger?"

Kagome had to fight to concentrate. "You're… dangerous…"

He smirked, biting the milky flesh again. "Exactly."

* * *

 _ **Seven months and eight days previously**_

 _You don't love him_.

He growled, pleased, and the girl moaned in bliss, impaling herself with his hardness, softly withdrawing and lowering again, finding a tempo and discovering a new aspect of the sensation she had come to adore.

Sesshomaru stared up at her in awe. Never before he had had a female like this, and the heat in her eyes, the bounce of her breasts in his hands, the gasps and moans, they were driving him crazy. His more feral side demanded to take the dominant position, but he was enjoying her control, keeping a short leash on his own instincts, all the while being enveloped in the pure energy her body seemed to be overflowing with.

She moaned his name, her movements becoming erratic. He couldn't help it and thrust his hips up, hitting something inside of her and making her scream in gratification. The buildup had been slow, but when her insides clenched in a wave of carnal bliss, Sesshomaru roared as his flesh was set aflame by the girl's power, sending sparks all the way through his body, and he took over. With a swift motion he pulled her against his chest and with pump after pump, his snarl transformed into a growl. He climaxed, dragging her with him as his fangs sank into her flesh, both relishing in the pain and pleasure that tore them.

Kagome looked into his eyes, panting, and his kiss swallowed the shaking breaths from her lips. The words were there, right there, while staring at those golden orbs through half shut lids.

"Kagome…" He whispered, and she felt like crying.

"I think you should just call me Higurashi."

* * *

 _ **Six months and twenty seven days previously**_

 _You don't love him_.

Kagome gulped, staring at the screen of her phone. She drew in a breath and picked the call. "Yeah?"

"How did your first day go?"

 _Horrible, I'm the incarnation of clumsiness_. "Great! I'm so excited."

"That bad?" Sesshomaru chuckled.

Kagome sighed heavily. "Yeah, I'm a mess… I dropped my mug and then cut while picking up the pieces."

"Coworkers?"

"They're fine, I guess. I'm just an intern, so for them I'm more annoying and irrelevant than anything."

"The train schedule?"

"Allows me to get there five minutes early, so it's not a problem."

"Lunch time?" Kagome remained silent and he pressed forward. "Higurashi?"

A knot formed in her stomach. It made her sick when he called her by her last name, like any other customer. But it had been her choice; it had been her chosen barrier to put some distance between them. And if his colder tone served as some indication, it had worked.

"One of the guys of the café hit on me, is that ok?"

On the other side of the line, the taiyoukai snarled mutely. "Did he impose himself?"

 _Mine_ , roared a voice in his head.

"No, no, God, of course not. I don't want to get in trouble, but I don't want to be rude either. He just welcomed me, I could say. He complimented me, you know how it is."

Sesshomaru had to refrain himself not to shatter his phone. "If he makes you uncomfortable…"

"Nah. It's nice to be noticed by a guy who's not paying," she giggled, the sound of her own laughter covering his soft growl. Sesshomaru could very well picture the things that must have flashed in the human boy's mind, and he had to force himself to remember something.

 _She is not yours._

* * *

 _ **Six months and twelve days previously**_

 _She is not yours._

"What are you doing here!?"She hissed, teeth clenched, and he knew he had fucked up.

"We were meeting today," he said dismissively, looking at her from under his dark glasses.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to come pick me up at school!"

"I did not feel like waiting for you to get home. Get in the car, I can drive you."

"Sesshomaru, are you insane?" She looked around, making sure not too much people were paying attention to the girl standing by the driver's window and murmuring angrily. "People can't see me with you!"

"We have been seen in public many times."

"Yeah, in _your_ circles where I'm nothing but an employee or some assistant!"

"That is so because you have decided it to be." She gasped, looking into his eyes behind the black screen. "You chose your alibi, Higurashi."

She had wanted to hear something else. Taking in a furious inhalation, she glared at him. "How did you know where to find me anyway?"

"You said you had Youkai Legislation class on Tuesdays. I called the front office and asked."

"Stalker."

He scowled. "I am no stalker. I have not been following you."

"Would've been normal if you just asked…"

"This Sesshomaru thought you'd appreciate a surprise."

Her right eyebrow lifted. "This is your idea of a surprise?"

"It is. Now, would you get in the car, so we can get out of here?"

Kagome sighed. "Yes, master." At his stricken expression, she huffed. "Don't even dream of it."

They drove in amiable silence, the girl commenting sporadically on her lessons and exploring the radio stations. They stopped by a grocery store and Kagome snorted when Sesshomaru picked a cart to join her in her supply run.

Once at her building they called the elevator, chatting more loosely now. "I always wanted to be a veterinarian. What did you want to be when you were a kid?" She asked, pushing the large silver button.

He doubted. "A swordsman, you could say."

"Mh, how _long_ ago was that anyway? You've never told me how old you are."

"How old do you think I am?"

"Mh, in human years you look in your late twenties. Dog, taiyoukai…" They entered the silver cabin. "Four, five hundred?"

"Close. I am six hundred and twenty eight."

"When's your birthday?"

"That I cannot recall. I count my summers, since I was born during one."

"That's funny, because my birthday's on the first day of fall! So I count my autumns."

He smiled and they stepped out of the elevator. He was about to comment something when she gasped.

The small window next to her door was broken. She let Sesshomaru have the key and he entered, noticing nothing but shattered glass.

"Weird," she mumbled, but shrugged it off anyway.

He didn't.

* * *

 _ **Four months and twenty days previously**_

 _She is not yours._

He took a deep sniff, and his eyes narrowed. Latex and a male that touched her two days ago and she had tried to hide. "How have you been?"

She smiled at him. "Ya know, the usual stuff. Studying, working…"

 _She is not yours._

"Hnn, so I see."

"Huh? What's up with that tone?"

 _She is not yours._

"I see you've been working."

She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can smell him."

"Yeah, so? What, did you think we had an exclusivity agreement?" He snarled. "Don't you _dare_ to growl at me!"

 _She is not yours._

He wanted to yell, to be angry, but his more civilized part knew he had no right. He stepped closer to her, nuzzling her neck in a repentant gesture. "I apologize."

She huffed. "Fine, apology accepted." She grinned brightly. "Now, I have this idea where we take a shower together with that special soap of yours and then you give me a tongue bath just to make sure. How's that for a plan?"

 _She is not yours._

He smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Agreeable."

* * *

 _ **Three months and sixteen days previously**_

She blinked at the phone. " _Again_?"

Miroku nodded on the other side of the line. "Why do you say it like it was something bad?"

"I'm not complaining. I'm so busy lately I couldn't take any other less flexible clients either way but… I dunnow… He's calling very often lately. I've seen him four times this week alone. Did he say anything unusual?"

The man snorted. "Yeah, because he's so talkative…"

"Really? He doesn't stop talking when he's with me."

"Ah, I see."

"What?" She asked, frustrated.

"People always accuse me of selling sex. They don't understand… I sell love."

"Miroku, stop talking nonsense. Still, I need him to understand he doesn't own me, so in between days keep on passing me other customers."

"You know that would do little good. They can smell a taiyoukai deep in you; do you think they want to tamper with a more powerful demon's female?"

"I am _not_ his female!"

He chuckled. "Keep telling yourself that."

* * *

 _ **Three months and ten days previously**_

Kagome's breath caught in her throat. She was spellchecking an article when Sesshomaru's voice rippled through the halls… _What the fuck is he doing here!?_

He wouldn't _dare_ to show up just like that… Would he? Nobody at her new job could know she slept with the boss every other day!

She fled to the copy room, excusing herself and taking a random stack of papers in her hands.

After a few seconds, her phone rang.

 _Hiding? You know I can track you down. I love a chase._

Kagome glared at the screen.

 _What are you even doing here!? And don't tell me you're just checking your investments!_

Another beep.

 _Feeling mischievous. Up for some naughty adventure?_

Her cheeks burned red, and she typed quickly.

 _What's gotten into you!? Absolutely not! There are cameras, not to mention my five coworkers who could find out!_

He responded.

 _I was planning on giving the rest of the staff the day off, considering it is my 'birthday'. The security guard's silence is a given, since I am his boss. Not that there are cameras anywhere but the halls and the entrance. Are you not even a little bit tempted?_

She gulped, writing a reply when another message arrived.

 _I can smell you in that copy room, by the way. Say the word and I will make it worth your while._

Kagome almost jumped, and she heard his deep chuckle on the other side of the closed door. She bit her lip. Finally, she answered.

 _A quickie. And if anyone finds out, I'll kill you._

His shadow abandoned the underline of the door. Another text arrived after at least twenty dragging minutes.

 _You make many threats for someone who cannot reach most cupboards_.

"I'm not that short!" She squealed, outraged.

"Yes, you are," his voice purred, and the door closed with a purposeful _click_.

She looked up at him, suit and tie, as elegant as always. He smirked, taking her in himself, her name in the golden tag, her blue shirt and black skirt, dazzling in her summer uniform.

Her face turned a dark shade of red. "You're gonna get me fired."

His smile widened. "I am sure I can convince myself of hiring you again."

"And the other two hundred investors?"

"Minor investors," he said, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her to his body, immediately undoing her ponytail and dragging his raspy tongue across her throat. Her embarrassment was thick in the air, and he chuckled. "Relax."

She shot him a glare. "You're a kinky one."

"I assure you, Higurashi, this copy room has seen more sex than your bedroom and mine combined," he said while lifting her by the ass and placing her on the counter, his long fingers trailing over the nylon fabric that ended right above the rim of her skirt.

She looked away mortified, but he brought his lips to hers. Carefully and delicately, he kissed her, placing pecks on her waiting mouth, inviting her to take the initiative.

Kagome sighed and with the part of the tender flesh, his tongue brushed hers softly, nipping her lips while caressing her waist and twisting his hand in her hair.

When he kissed her like that, she went crazy. Every single time she felt like whispering nonsense against his mouth, to tell him she loved him, of all things! She couldn't really let go anymore, else she might end up saying something she'd come to regret.

Why did she want to say that anyway? It wasn't like it was true!

She decided she couldn't handle tenderness, so lust would have to do. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hungrily, desperately, moaning and arching when one of his hands found a nipple and the other rubbed tight circles around her clit. She quickly undid his pants, her little hand wrapping firmly around his hardness, stroking roughly, and he couldn't help but thrust in her hand.

"Fuck me," she begged, and he complied.

"Step down," he ordered, and she slid from the counter. "Turn around."

She did so, and he pressed her back with his chest until she was trapped between the marble surface and his body. In a quick motion he procured the latex sleeve he had come to hate, and once ready, he pulled her panties aside and stabbed her drenching pussy in one swift movement.

Kagome bit her lip not to scream as he pounded ferally against her. His claws pricked her skin, a hand wound in her raven hair, then attacked the sensitive spot crowning her apex, and both squeezed her breasts again.

She climaxed with a moan that echoed through the now empty halls, and he snarled his own peak, hot on her heels, feeling the pure energy sparking against his flesh. Panting, he withdrew, causing her to groan. She looked at him over her shoulder, catching her breath, and smiled brightly.

"Happy birthday!"

* * *

 ** _One month and twenty one days previously_**

Kagome plummeted on the couch, and Sesshomaru chuckled. "Rough day?"

"I bombed my Youkai Traditions and Practices test. The mating questions almost killed me," she whinnied.

"You failed? I cannot believe that."

"Yep. It was all about those damn ryuu youkai. The fuckers have at least three different mating methods, I swear… Damn them."

"You had not studied dragons?"

"We barely touched the subject! I thought that it would've been more focused on mammal demons, And the professor didn't go easy on me, despite I thought we were becoming friends!"

The taiyoukai smirked, finding her despair almost amusing. "And now what?"

"Now I have to write an essay to compensate my grade, so I don't fail the whole class. I have to turn it in by Thursday, but next Friday it's summer break, baby!"

"And what will this essay be about?"

She shrugged. "Could be about mating inu habits. After all, I've got you to help." His cock twitched in response and she shot him a glare when she detected the hungry look in his eyes. "To answer my questions!"

 _She is not yours._

He shook his head, sitting by her side and pulling her on his lap, massaging her shoulders and rubbing the tension away.

Kagome giggled. "We do spa service now?"

* * *

 _ **Twenty nine days previously**_

"Go away!"

Sesshomaru frowned. He would usually turn and leave immediately, but her voice was cracked, and he could smell the salt. She hadn't attended their meeting, and wasn't returning his calls. "Kagome, open the door."

Her chest constricted at the sound of her name, her first name, in his lips. She would usually call him out for breaking their agreement, but today she just didn't have the strength.

"Just go away…"

He leaned against the wood. "Please, open up. Let me help."

She sniffed, and the doorknob twirled. When her blue, wet eyes met his, a snarl pulled at his lips, which became a roar joined by red eyes and jarred cheek stripes.

" _WHO DID THIS!?_ ** _WHO_** _!?"_

She knew any sane person would have had their knees knocking together at the sight of a madly enraged taiyoukai, but she could only feel herself shrinking. "It's nothing, really."

He entered the apartment, not waiting for her invitation, and shut the door closed with so much strength the calendar hanging by it fell.

His hands were suddenly on her shoulders, his nose on her throat, a thumb brushing carefully the black bruises and her split lip. He looked into her azure orbs, one bloodshot and rimmed by a purplish cheekbone. " _Who!?"_

She sniffed again. "It happens, Sesshomaru. Miroku already put him on the black list… It's not a safe job. He just… It could've been worse…"

He was shaking with rage, and she was pulled tightly against his chest, carefully so not to harm her further. "I'm going to kill him. No one is allowed to touch you. _No one!_ "

She jolted away, tears falling freely. "That's right, you neither! No one owns me but me! Not him, not Miroku, not you!"

He ignored her indignation. The taiyoukai dropped to his knees, hugging her abdomen, placing his forehead against the plains of her stomach. "Let me protect you… let me tear him apart!" He growled.

She sobbed, her hands in his hair, and she slid down, hiding in his lap, tightening her arms around his chest, and he nuzzled her neck.

She knew she had the power to kill the demon that attacked her. She knew that if she just understood how to channel her energy the animal would have just fallen to pieces after a single flick of her wrist. Still, she had stood through the beating, taking blow after blow, just like every other time. And there had been many.

Now Sesshomaru was there, being miserable because she had been too weak. She felt guilty.

"Just shut up and hold me."

* * *

 _ **Twenty eight days previously**_

Kagome's blue eyes fluttered open, and she was welcomed by the sight of a strong, pale chest. His hands still held her tightly, just like the night before.

The night before, when there had been no sex, no demands, no money. He had done right by her request and held her, slept with her in his arms, treated her with such a tenderness and sweetness she couldn't even stand it.

Sesshomaru's eyes darted open at the scent of salt. He looked down at her and found her pool of raven black hair, so dark it shone blue, hidden against his body. "Kagome?"

"You can't call me that."

His chest ached. "Forgive me. I forgot."

"Well, you can't forget… You can't show up unannounced, you can't just… you…"

She sat up straight, her shoulders shaking with her crying, back turned to him.

"You're messing me up. You can't be so nice to me. You're gonna make me confused."

The taiyoukai felt something in his chest, a pressure; something breaking and rising at the same time. He scooted closer and pressed his lips against her nape. "Kagome, look at me."

She turned, tears streaming down her face that he whipped away. The bruises covering her cheekbone and her body hurt badly, but to know she couldn't have him…

"Stop thinking," he demanded.

And the words were right there again, about to be said, screamed. To want _more_ , to _need_ more.

"Sesshomaru, I… I…" She choked on a sob.

He brushed his cheek against hers. "I know. Me too."

"What are we even doing?" She whispered.

"I have no idea, but I refuse to stop."

 _You_ ** _can't_** _love him_

She opened her mouth to say something, but his kiss silenced her.

 _She_ ** _cannot_** _be yours._

"There is no need. I know all the reasons why not, too. Let me just enjoy it while I still can." He pressed a peck to her forehead. "Come. Let's have breakfast."

Brokenhearted, Kagome nodded.


	9. Lucía

_...Si alguna vez amé,  
_ _si algún día después  
_ _de amar, amé,  
_ _fue por tu amor, Lucía._

 _Lucía._

 _Tus recuerdos son  
_ _cada día más dulces.  
_ _El olvido solo  
_ _se llevó la mitad._

 _Y tu sombra aún  
_ _Se acuesta en mi cama  
_ _con la oscuridad,  
_ _entre mi almohada  
_ _y mi soledad._

...

...If I ever loved  
if once after  
loving, I _loved,  
_ it was due to your love, Lucía.

Lucía.

Your memories are  
sweeter each day.  
Oblivion only  
took away a half.

And your shadow still  
lies on my bed  
with the dusk,  
amid my pillow  
and my solitude.

 _Joan Manuel Serrat,_ 'Lucía'

* * *

 **Lucía:** Italian femenine variation of the latin Lucius. Means **_light._** Name of the patron saint of those who are blind.

* * *

 _ **October the 3rd, Year One**_

 **Chapter Nine: Lucía**

Cuddling. A stressed Sesshomaru _always_ led to cuddling.

And that was very, _very_ dangerous.

Kagome wondered if it had something to do with canine pack instincts or if he just was in dire need of some physical contact after a long day of being a cold scientist and a ruthless businessman. Maybe it was a possessive aspect of him, where he didn't want her going anywhere while he slept.

She sighed.

In his arms, protected of the autumn chill, Kagome kicked herself mentally. This felt so good, so _right_ , and she couldn't deal with it, goddammit! She considered the option of downing a whole bottle of vodka to kill those darned butterflies in her stomach but, who was she kidding? This, she would call it _crush,_ would fight to stay.

Oh, she knew; she had tried to get rid of it.

Speaking of which…

Kagome made an attempt to flee, slowly disentangling herself from his hold, retreating to safer grounds where she could just be Higurashi.

It didn't work.

In his sleep, the taiyoukai growled and pulled her tight against his chest, causing her to huff. "Superhuman strength, superhuman strength!" She wheezed, patting his forearm desperately.

He groaned and let go immediately. "Are you injured?" He shot up to revise her soon-to-be-bruised torso.

"I'm ok. Were you having a nightmare or something that you had to squeeze the life out of teddy-bear-me?" He frowned minutely in the neon light of Tokyo. "Oh, you were… Sorry. What were you dreaming?"

A small shrug. "It is irrelevant."

She frowned. "You don't seem to be the type that has nightmares. It can't be irrelevant."

He smirked. "Do you have me so idealized that even the garbage of my subconscious seems important to you? Why, Higurashi, I am abashed."

She huffed in annoyance. "Fine, fine, be like that."

"I am always myself."

"Yeah, and full of that, too!"

Before she could react, the taiyoukai had pounced, pinning her down, hands holding her wrists. "Was there an opinion you wished to express, Miss Higurashi?"

 _Ah, sexy, no cuteness, now, this I can work with_.

"You'll never make me talk!" She said with laughter.

"Do you defy me?"

She smiled seductively. "Don't I always? I'm too much for you to control, remember?"

"Are you? Should I make you submit to me so I can prove the contrary?"

"I _highly_ doubt you could."

He pressed his body against hers. "Is that a challenge?"

She shrugged, uninterestedly. "If it were, you wouldn't be up to the task."

Before she knew what was happening, his hand shot to the side and stripped a cushion of its pillowcase.

Kagome squeaked when, in the darkness, she realized he was tying her up with the silken cloth to the headboard. "What are you doing!?" She said with panic in her voice.

A tug and the knot was firm in place. He leaned down and dragged his fangs over the skin of her chest. "I'm making you talk… and submit to me, in the meanwhile."

"This isn't what I meant!"

His hot tongue dragged over her collarbone. "Submitting already?"

She glared at him. "I've got the feeling you've been working this idea for a while." If the hints he had been dropping here and there were of any help, she would guess it was since the time they both agreed they were dangerous to one another.

A smirk. "Perhaps."

"So kinky…"

"Unorthodox, Higurashi. Like everything between you and me."

"Unorthodox," she repeated with a laugh.

He stood on his knees, looking down at her, not missing a detail in the darkness. "Aren't you the perfect morsel to devour…" Her face turned red. He laughed softly. "And do I have plans for you…"

A hard swallow. "Weren't you the king of consent? What if your plans don't _suit me_?"

"Truly," he hummed. "Do you _want_ me to untie you?"

"Ah…"

His clawed fingertips massaged the outer rim of her womanhood, collecting the wet proof of her enjoyment. "So I thought."

She ignored the heat that crept all over her body, and huffed. "Hey, shouldn't we have, like, a safeword for this?"

"Oh? So are we going all the way?"

"Weren't you planning on it!?"

"I was planning on finding out along the way. So far I was just tying you up. Light bondage hardly requires a safeword. If you wish more from me, however…"

"Uh… yeah, sure. You made a nice knot; it'd be a waste if we didn't engage in… Fully compromising activities… Ya know…"

He shrugged. "No, I do not know; I have never done this before."

"You're supposed to be the experienced one!"

"Am I?"

"Well… yeah? Hey, wait, how do you know how to make such a weird knot if you've never tried this?"

"I have tied many kimono, obi, and armors in my life."

"Oh, sounds… Useful."

"Hnn. So, safeword. It is yours, do you want to pick it?" She shook her head vigorously and he smirked. "Feeling shy?"

"I wouldn't know how it'd affect you. I'd choose something like 'mercy', but…"

"But, yes, that sounds _most_ arousing."

He pressed his hardness against her inner thigh, and the staccato in her chest filled the bedroom.

"Hnn… Misery."

"Uh?"

"Misery. Not something you would say, sounds like what you would choose, and is the exact opposite of pleasure."

"Mh… I think I like it."

"Say it. What is the safeword?"

"Misery."

He nodded. "Good girl."

His claws teased her neck, up her cheeks, and brushed her parted lips. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. Yes, I am," she flicked her tongue over a digit, sucking and arousing. "Let's have some _unorthodox_ fun."

"Alright."

She blinked when she saw him stand from the bed, displaying his nude form in all its glory, before whirling and closing the curtains, leaving the room in absolute darkness. "I can't see anything!" She complained.

"That is the plan."

"But what if I want to see you?" Absolute, lonely silence. "Sesshomaru?"

His footsteps suddenly sounded close and she almost jumped. She felt his weight shift the bed as he crawled towards her. "You will have to use your imagination."

"I've never been too imag-woah, shi-! What…!? Ah… What was that!?"

The burning and deliciously stabbing sensation attacked her left nipple again, and she almost cried out in pleasure, trapping his thighs with her ankles.

He chuckled.

Panting, she searched the darkness with blind eyes. "Seriously, what's that!?"

He hushed her and dragged the painfully delicious object down her torso and let it rest on her navel. Thanks to the more prolonged contact she realized what it was.

"An ice cube?" She gasped, feeling a freezing droplet roll down her hip.

"Hnn."

She laughed, relieved. "Aren't you a resourceful one…" But still, she bit her lip. "I thought…" She said after several minutes, but fell silent, embarrassed.

He snaked up her body, the frozen bit in his claws. "What is it?"

"It's so silly. I thought you were burning me with something."

In the blackness, he frowned. "I will not do anything you do not want… Enjoy, let go, but know you are still in complete control."

She blinked. "Am I?"

"Say the word and I will stop. No questions asked."

"Mh, that's… relieving, I guess."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No!"

"Do you _want_ me to hurt you?"

"N-no… I mean… I want, erh…"

He brushed her cheek with his. "Talk to me."

Heat crept up her neck. "I want some pain, but I don't want _pain_."

Kissing her throat, she felt him smile. "I understand."

"Sesshomaru… I'm… I'm nervous."

"Me too."

"Promise me something?"

"Of course."

"Swear you'll stop if I say the word… I know you will, but just… just swear."

He left the ice cube on the night stand and his cold, wet hands held her cheeks after a moment. He pressed his forehead against hers. "On my life and honor."

"Also, promise that if I don't like it, we won't do this again. I won't pressure if I do and you don't, get it?"

"Of course, absolutely."

"And…" She smirked. "One day, we'll reverse roles."

She heard his huffing smile. "Very well."

She adopted a lordly tone. "You may proceed."

He lifted a brow, amused. "May I?"

He made her moan in bliss when he retrieved the hailstone with his teeth and kissed her inch by inch with a mouthful of ice, scorching and glacial at the same time. He explored the plains of her stomach, down her thighs, between her legs, and she writhed at every moment.

It spiraled very, _very_ fast.

When his freezing tongue entered her core, she almost screamed. God it felt _painful_ but not in a bad way. When a fang scraped her clit, she almost came in his wicked mouth. It would have taken him to suck for a second, to brush her with claws, to caress a nipple, but he retreated and she whined.

"No…!"

A smirk that was lost in the darkness. "Will you submit?"

"N-no…"

"Fight me with vigor, miko."

She gasped. "What did you just call me?"

A clawed digit carefully invaded her. She arched, so close to climax it hurt. "I called you _miko_."

Kagome fought for a shred of composure. "N-no, I don't submit, _taiyoukai_."

He smiled predatorily. "Delightful."

His finger moved slowly back and forth, at a lazy rhythm, driving her mad, pressing upwards and finding the right spot. She closed her eyes tightly, focusing on not begging for the orgasm he was denying her. But her hips bucked reflexively and he withdrew.

His icy tongue wrapped around her nipple, and he sucked softly. "Do you submit?"

"Never," she moaned. "I'll fight you, _demon_."

"As much as you want. I promise I still would conquer you."

"I won't let you."

She felt him lean down and take a hold of her ankle and bite softly on her skin. "That is the spirit I expect of a prey."

 _God_ , she moaned mentally. How could the guy get her so hot and bothered just by chit chatting?

He laughed softly. She felt his lips brushing her skin and then biting down, sucking. She yelped.

It took her a second to register what that had been. _Hickeys…_

"What are you doing!?"

He released her skin with a pop, taking a different spot again, only answering after the third mark had been placed.

"I will mark you until you submit."

"Ow…" She complained, and he laughed. "And if I don't?"

"I will be forced to use my claws and fangs."

She gasped, he smirked. "You _wouldn't_ …"

Angry red scratches were suddenly drawn on her skin. Tiny beads of blood emerged from the five paper thin cuts. His got tongue dragged between them, not touching her life's fluid, causing her to hiss. "Do not try me."

"That hurt!"

"Did it?"

He buried his nose in her pussy, and she forgot all about an ache for the sake of another. He bit the outer rim of her womanhood, sucking and softly pressing fangs to her labia. Kagome squealed almost mutely.

"Do you submit?"

"N-no…"

"It's a shame…" His thumb brushed her clit roughly, and she almost fell over the cliff, but he didn't allow it. "I cannot bring you more pleasure than this if you don't surrender."

She pressed herself down, he backed up. "And… what happens if I do?"

"You'd belong to me…" he crawled up her body. She felt his soft exhale caressing her ear and his scorching cock brush her wet entrance. "And while it's true I am selfish, I take good care of that which is mine."

The muscles in her pussy contracted, and her body begged to be filled.

The bites, she was used to. Blood, not so much.

He had never been this rough, and she didn't know if she felt excited or nervous. She knew for sure, however, she wasn't scared. Not of him _hurting_ her, at least.

What was the _worst_ that could happen if she submitted?

 _Just a little bit more_.

"No. N-no, I don't submit," then she smirked wickedly. "You'll have to make me."

"Truly?" He purred, and his weight left the bed.

Absolute silence that dragged and dragged.

"Sesshomaru?" But there was no response. "Sesshomaru, are you there?"

Then he was kneeling between her legs again, and his burning hardness nudged her clit. Kagome gasped. "I am right _here_."

"Oh, God…"

His hips began a lazy tempo, stroking her core, fanning the flames just enough to keep her madly turned on, but not quite as much as to bring her to climax. "You smell delicious, are you certain you don't wish to submit?"

"Ngh…"

"You just have to ask for it. Ask me to fuck you and I will comply."

"N… no?"

The tip of his shaft was positioned just right. With a single thrust he would be screwing her senseless, she just had to say _yes_.

The game was fun. Weird, and silly in a way, but fun nonetheless. Still it felt that if she accepted his proposition, she would be dangerously at his mercy.

But then again… what was the _worst_ that could happen if she did submit to him?

"Are you sure?" He asked, laughter in his voice.

"Agh!" She arched, inviting his body to enter hers. "Yes, fine! I submit! Please, just make me cum already!"

Sesshomaru smirked, victoriously licking his fangs.

As predicted, his pelvis only needed one movement and he had crashed against her, ripping a cry from her throat and an orgasm from her more than sensitive body.

When his fangs pierced the skin of her shoulder, Kagome screamed in pleasure, extending her climax into a second one, only to realize he had done the same thing.

Purification flared and blazed. She felt mortified, scared to hurt him, but he lapped the crimson droplets and groaned low and long.

"It's even better," he sighed, trying to maintain control while tasting all of her power in her blood.

In the darkness, she could imagine how they looked like, a perfect opposite pair, his flashing crimson and golden eyes, her hooded blue orbs, his silver hair, her raven mane.

His terrible aura, her pristine energy.

This was wrong. So deliciously, sinfully, blissfully wrong.

He started lunging into her.

"No!" _Yes. More, more, more._

She wondered if they would both burn in hell, and if he would still fuck her like that amongst the flames.

"Too late," he growled in her ear, fucking her silly.

For a moment she randomly remembered how long he had lived, how his iron hand had ruled an empire. How many people had he killed? How many nations had he crushed?

He wasn't dangerous just because of the things he did to her body and her mind, he was dangerous because he was a _predator in every single sense_.

 _Harder._

"It hurts! Please, let me go!" She yelled as his claws dug in her inner thighs, spreading and encouraging.

She felt so helpless, so vulnerable.

"I'm begging you!"

He could have done anything he wanted to her, and yet he chose to give her pleasure unmatched, to prove himself worthy of her trust.

"Stop _!_ " _Keep going._

She found herself whirled, binding tauter, her demonic master pressing his chest against her back, and claws, and fangs, and, oh his so delicious power flaring and battling hers. He dominated her in every single possible sense, except in the spiritual one.

"Do you wish to fight me?" He snarled, and his youki exploded, forcing a peak out of her body, making her shout in bliss.

"No!"

"Yet, you _do_." His skin slapped against hers, his cock hitting every right spot, stretching her in a tight fit.

"I'm sorry!"

"You've always been a fierce one."

"God, I'm so sorry," she cried out, and he grinded his pelvis against her body.

"And so, so fucking good and tight and _mine_ ," he purred before biting again, drunk with her blood, pounding animally into her.

Her mouth felt dry despite she knew her wet tongue was hanging, like a thirsty, needy, and distorted portrait of herself, so out of control, so completely and utterly at his mercy. Kagome ran out of sounds to express her pleasure, so she just wheezed and panted, feeling him crash into her depths like a tidal wave, jaw clenched tight around the crook of her neck, his left arm wrapped around her torso, hand in her bleeding shoulder, the other holding onto the headboard.

When the next orgasm attacked her, she let go completely.

She screamed his name as the sensations spiraled out of her control, she begged for more while telling him to stop, she fueled the feeling of powerlessness, driving them both on.

There was nothing she could do. She was trapped, it all depended on him, she could just watch and feel and she was so _free_.

For the first time in her life, not knowing it had not been like that before, Kagome had sex free of guilt.

"Sesshomaru…!" She panted, knees shaking, climaxes tearing her apart, throat coarse, eyes watering, heart racing. "Gods, yes, I love you…!"

She felt the words rolling out of her mouth, and her tears falling, and she didn't care. She was so unrestricted, so blissful, so…

His hold tightened around her body, and his pace increased. His face hidden against her skin, and she heard him laugh in complete exhilaration, felt him smile on her flesh. "Say it again, Kagome," he purred deely in her ear, and somehow he sounded so very happy.

"I love you!"

" _Again_."

"I _love_ you, Sesshomaru _!_ " An Earth shattering orgasm.

Free. Trapped.

Delightful pain shot through her body, and she realized his fangs had bitten down hard, blood pouring, skin blackening, red tinting his taste buds. He climaxed and panted against her, shaking so hard she thought he might drop unconscious right there.

Her heart constricted and the real world caught up. What had she done?

God, _what had she_ ** _done_**?

"I'm sorry… I… I'm so sorry." There was no playful resistance now, only shame.

Struggling to breathe, his hands trembled and his claws sliced the pillowcase that was strangling her wrists.

"Stop thinking," he purred, lowering completely on the bed. She heard the sound of latex and deduced he was taking off the condom. After a second, the taiyoukai was snuggling around her body, kissing her temple. "Just stop thinking."

Kagome stared at the darkness.

She cried herself to sleep in his arms, and he remained awake.

* * *

His eyes were closed, but he was painfully conscious when she slipped from his hold into the early hours of the morning. He heard her in the bathroom, splashing water on her face, chocking her sobs, sniffing. Then he listened to the sound of her black dress whispering on her skin, the zipper of her purse, the sound of her heels heading for the door.

Then he heard her say goodbye.

"I can't do this anymore," she murmured.

And, with the click of a closed door, she was gone.

His golden irises stared at the light cascading from the windows, the drapes not thick enough to block the day away; and he remained still and quiet, waiting for the hollowness to go away.

It didn't.


	10. 秩父市, The Fourth Essential

**Chichibu** (秩父市 _Chichibu-shi_ ) is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan, where the Chichibu Night Festival takes place once a year during the 2nd and 3rd day of December.

* * *

...If you grow up the type of woman men want to touch,  
you can let them touch you.  
Sometimes it is not you they are reaching for.  
Sometimes it is a bottle. A door. A sandwich. A Pulitzer. Another woman.  
But their hands found you first. Do not mistake yourself for a guardian.  
Or a muse. Or a promise. Or a victim. Or a snack.

You are a woman. Skin and bones. Veins and nerves. Hair and sweat.  
You are not made of metaphors. Not apologies. Not excuses.

If you grow up the type of woman men want to hold,  
you can let them hold you.  
All day they practice keeping their bodies upright-  
even after all this evolving, it still feels unnatural, still strains the muscles,  
holds firm the arms and spine. Only some men will want to learn  
what it feels like to curl themselves into a question mark around you,  
admit they do not have the answers  
they thought they would have by now;  
some men will want to hold you like The Answer.

You are not The Answer.  
You are not the problem. You are not the poem  
or the punchline or the riddle or the joke...

 _ **Sarah Kay,**_ **'The Type'.**

* * *

 _ **December the 3rd, Year One**_

 **Chapter Ten:** **秩父市**

 **(Also known as 'The Fourth Essential: Numbness')**

The trick was to not be there at all.

Kagome realized that this very important notion fit perfectly snuggly in her purse. Out of the six things she always carried when meeting a customer, it was probably the most important one. Her apathy was the master survival tool.

She was also very aware that she was using it more often than she should.

Ever since leaving Sesshomaru over two months ago, she had learnt to shelter herself in utter indifference. She went to work, then to _work_ , studied, and simply convinced herself to breathe.

She decided against leaving the internship or her job as an escort. It was enough to stoop as low as she already had. Her pride was destroyed, her ego, crushed; Sesshomaru didn't need to know he had killed her mood forever.

 _Who am I kidding. The guy didn't do anything wrong to me. I did this all by myself._

So, apathy. It was working… kind of…

A sigh.

On the bright side, she had almost _not_ cried this week, which was massive improvement. The Christmas décor and general atmosphere were contagious, and if there was something Kagome loved, it was the holiday spirit. With the Emperor's upcoming birthday, also, the whole nation was in typical buzz. The air simply wouldn't allow one to get gloomy.

Kagome looked around at the lamps and decorations hanging all around her. Chichibu's night festival was one of her favorites, and for a moment she forgot that a customer had made her travel almost two hours to meet here.

 _Sounds like a paranoid idiot with a wife_.

Under her white and red kitsune mask covering the upper half of her face, Kagome's blue eyes searched the crowd. The lantern-lit floats paraded around the streets, and the skies were about to be ablaze with fireworks. People screaming _horyai_ , drums, music, aromas, and cheerfulness. It was beautiful, and she was alone.

She had gone all the way with the looks. Her mane was up in a complex hairdo, but several straight locks flowed down her half painted nape and back. Her kimono was showing her left shoulder, and she sported an obi tied in the front. Pipe in hand, she was the living image of an oiran; beautiful, seductive, and forbidden. Many pedestrians thought her a part of the show, and it made her proud of her work.

The idiot who hired her and asked to remain anonymous had requested her to dress with typical clothes and display the fox mask. She hated when these men tried to treat her like a doll. She was no actress, no performer, no model. She was a hooker and had learnt to come to terms with it. No pretty names, no metaphors. And she would dress for him as such.

 _Take that, bastard_.

She wondered, for a second, if she wasn't doing this for Sesshomaru, to convince herself that, even to him, she was simply a whore. Maybe this was an elaborated tantrum. She just couldn't stop thinking about him and all the reasons why she wouldn't go back to his side.

Standing in the middle of a crowd, she reminded herself of what he was looking for, what he needed… But she wasn't stupid. Kagome knew he wanted more than a bed warmer when he called her… she knew he cared.

And that made it all the harder.

If she could just blame herself, if she could simply say it was all because of her feeble heart, of her fucking stupid sentimentalism, because she couldn't just _not_ fall in love with the only man she had had actual sex with… even if the sex was incredible.

It would have been so much easier if she could simply admit she was an airheaded teenager with a youkai fetish who had lost her breath over the most attractive, elegant, and interesting male specimen she had laid eyes on.

But, it so happened… that he wanted her back.

Wanting and having were two very different things. She could deal with desiring Sesshomaru… it got messed up when he decided _he_ desired _her_.

Even while hating him, she couldn't stop thinking of him and all the things that composed that statement of perfection. Oh, he was hideous, but what a beautiful son of a bitch.

The minute they sat down in that restaurant after The Stupid Flowers Incident she couldn't stop wanting him. Pressing her knees together, nails digging in her palms, she willed herself to let it go away.

Of course, it didn't.

If Sesshomaru could just hate her, if he simply would have still acted like an asshole, it would all have been in peace with the world. But no, he had to redeem himself and be a perfect gentleman, sweet, caring…

 _Fuck_.

Even now, in the middle of a festive ocean, she couldn't shake the hope that maybe, just maybe, it was _him_ who had called her here.

All she had to do was locate a Daikijin mask and find out.

 _Please, just... find me._

A clawed hand wrapped around her waist and magnificent youki pulsated softly at her back.

The world caught in her throat.

Slowly she turned, expecting silver hair and golden eyes, and a forgiving smile, a soft voice rumbling it would be okay, that they would figure it out.

 _I miss you_.

She was greeted by a demon's face, but one of legend. The Daikijin mask was white and fierce and horrifying, but the body beneath was lean and masculine. The snowy mane was wild around his frame, covering almost even his shoulders. He cocked his head, and before she knew it, her vixen façade fell in both the literal and the figurative way.

In his clawed hands was her mask, and then his fingers caressed her face softly, unbelieving, so lovingly she almost cried.

But she didn't.

"It's you."

He nodded and in a moment, took her hand and pulled her across the cheering attendants of the festival, through streets, and night, across voices and shadows.

In front of the white tower of a hotel, surely pestered by tourists, they made a stop. He regarded her, and she saw his pupils flash eerily white-green in an inhuman way under the street lights and behind the lacquered wood. After a second, he tugged her hand again; they entered the momentarily empty reception and quickly made it to the elevator.

She swallowed, reading his more than clear intentions. She didn't care, she _wanted this_. He had come for her, Sesshomaru had _followed_ …

The words were there again. Those venomous feelings she couldn't allow herself to have, dying to be poured out, to be screamed to the light of day.

She just smiled.

Before a minute had passed, they entered a double room and he locked the door. She launched herself into his arms, and held him in a crushing embrace, that he returned after a moment of shock.

"You _came for me_ …" She murmured, and heard a huffing soft laugh. "I want to see you."

Immediately her hands went behind his head as she undid the straps. Rustle and a second later, a soft, fanged smirk welcomed her, joined by eyes so loving she would have fallen to her knees in another life.

Kagome paled and took a step back.

"Koga…" She whispered.

* * *

…Breathing only of the breathe we traded, we spelled love, g-i-v-e,  
I never wanted to hide my body from him - if I could have I would have  
given it all away with the rest of me - I did not know it was possible  
to save something for myself…

 _ **Sarah Kay,**_ **'Private Parts'.**

* * *

Kagome made friends with Koga when she was too young to understand what the death of her father meant.

He had bumped into her at the schoolyard while running like the hyperactive cub he was. She had cried and, to keep her from snitching on him to the teacher, he covered her mouth with his hands and she licked his palm to teach him a lesson.

He had been taught to never hit a girl, less than ever a _human_ girl, but Kagome liked playing dirty. When she kicked him in the shins, he counterattacked and soon they were involved in their very first school fight with a circle of cheerers and all that.

Both Kagome's mother and Kouga's parents were summoned, and both kids were thoroughly grounded. It was hate at first sight.

Every recess they would try to make each other's life impossible. From pranks to actual punches, their favorite hobby was make the other as angry as they could, proving themselves superior.

A tacit truce was reached, however: no snitching. They would fight and confront behind the row of trees at the edge of the patio, where no adults would see them.

And so, they both learnt honor.

One day, a horse youkai several years older, attacked Kagome. He stole her bento box and she fought back, but he punched her in the face and made her nose bleed. Every kid in the vicinity laughed at her.

Koga had also learnt to never give up his prey to any other, and Kagome _definitely_ belonged to him, was his to torment. He beat the bullying out of that idiot, and then the three of them ended up at the principal's office again. Since the wolf cub couldn't admit he was defending his prey to deliver swift termination later, he falsely claimed to be defending her. Kagome had realized this, and so she played along.

That didn't mean the end of trouble, though. They were both grounded and punished. Fighting was the reason, they said. But, deep down, both kids knew it was because of their theoretical albeit false friendship. Their parents throwing nasty glares at each other had been a sign clear enough.

The next day, Koga showed up at the schoolyard with a black eye and Kagome was _livid_. She had never liked it when adults kept her from doing stuff, and so, out of sheer, morbid curiosity, and a decided dose of defiance, she set herself the goal to befriend Koga.

It was surprisingly easy.

It so happened that he had become an outcast. The ones that used to be his friends turned their backs on him because he stood for a human against his own race, even if Koga had a reason good enough for it.

It all just… happened afterwards.

From recesses to meeting after school, pretending they had friends of their same species who they would meet at the park. And just like that, because with kids it's easy, they became best friends.

One day, Kagome would show him ancient weapons her grandpa used to have locked in the storeroom. Then, Koga would carry her on his back while running full speed, showing her what it felt like to fly.

One day she would help him sneak into the Shrine so he could see one himself. The next he would teach her how to track and hunt.

One day he would let her touch his pointy ears, his tail. The next one, she would cry, understanding death and loss, and he would console her.

Once he told her how much he hated his dad. Once, she showed him her hidden purification powers.

Since wolf youkai aged at a rate similar to humans until fully developing, they saw each other maturing, changing, fitting into their skin. They didn't grow up; they grew in, wrapping and swirling around each other like river and ocean water, clashing and mixing, sharing every moment, every secret, every thought. Black hair and cobalt eyes, golden and milky skin, so perfectly identical and opposite, they emerged into the hurricane of their teen years together.

Kagome was not entirely sure how she fell in love with him. One day, at the door of adulthood, she looked at his tanned skin, his fangs, his long black hair, his sharp blue eyes, and she sighed. Color crept up her neck and her heart pounded in her chest.

As she discovered her awakening body, he suddenly realized she was gorgeous and blooming and _female_. He was there when her anatomy shifted, leaving behind perfect curves, plump lips, and a spiking scent that called to him in a primitive, instinctual way.

Simultaneously Koga noticed her as a soon-to-be woman, and Kagome saw him as the perfect example of masculinity he was.

They wanted each other. The realization was astounding, but not secret.

There were no such things as _secrets_ between them.

Still, he never saw all of her skin, never roamed her body with his hands, never tasted her lips. Instead, he listened; swallowed every piece of her she would give up when opening her soul to his searching eyes, to his comforting presence, like these bits of Kagome were bites of nectarine, so sweet and delicate, so simple and yet precious. In return, she gave him everything and nothing, except she spoke in his ear and she smelled like promises and future. She adored him; every single bit of him, and she felt like _home_.

Touches, caresses, and tantalizing closeness, and without even single a kiss he learnt all of her secrets. In a tight embrace against a tree he discovered how she smelled when her soft body was ready to take him. Brushing her lips with his rough thumb he noticed how warm her tongue was. Having her trapped between his now fully developed body and the grass he relished in the sound of the first soft, trembling moan of her life.

She gave him her smiles, the small of her back, her shoulders, her nape, the words 'I love you'. He owned these small portions of her being and guarded them zealously, like hard conquered territory he would exploit at his whim.

In return he gave up his trembling hands, his loving gaze, his howls, his ribs that hid his racing heart from anyone but her. She treasured each part, made sure he knew he was well taken care of. And he loved her back.

From the angriest yell to the most desolated whisper, he learnt her whole and memorized every word. Always so close to kiss her, he took her exhalations, and vice versa. They could have survived underwater just out of the breath they traded. Always so close, so about to happen. Yet it never did.

There was always _family_ and _consequences_ and _tomorrow_. There was always the knowledge that once that dam broke, they would not stop until they had it all.

And they waited. They waited for the world to change, for the conditions to be favorable. They waited for the time to come when he would sweep her off of her feet and run, and run, and run so fast and so far no one would ever catch them. Yet it never happened.

And then he left, and with his presence he took everything.

There had been times in her life when she had felt lonely, when her small house seemed too big and her family too unfamiliar. Kagome would often wonder if her dad would have understood her love for a youkai, or her inability to hate them, like everyone seemed to expect her to do. She would miss this possibility of a father then, because she couldn't remember the real thing. In times like this, that was almost a blessing, since she could imagine the comforting words of this blank canvas of a parent, always patient, always on her side.

Lonely was redefined without Koga. She would turn to tell him something and he wouldn't be behind her, folded arms, swishing tail, a smug smirk on his chiseled face. She would scream at the darkness in her mind, asking how he could have _abandoned_ her. She would laugh at jokes and smartass comments he never made, would hear words he never said, because she knew him so well it was like his ghost haunted her, like she could repeat his phrases and say _jinxed_ and he hadn't even spoken.

Her childhood started feeling so far away without him, so dull and alien. He was her rock, and now she was crumbling, boneless, hating him and missing him so hard she could barely _breathe_.

At night she would sometimes wake up, knowing he was tossing around in his bed, the bed he would share with a suitable youkai wife. She would stare at the empty portion of her sheets that had always and never belonged to him, and she knew he would be staring back, trying to find in her missing eyes the peace he had lost, to sleep and dream of her and all the _what ifs_ that would remain unanswered. Then, he would bend on himself, wrapping her absent frame, curling his body around her lost silhouette like a question mark, willing away the stiffness of his spine from so much standing upright with his head held high and the weight of his family's honor on his shoulders.

She would fall asleep with him, feeling the warmth of a lost happy life holding her close. She would wake up alone.

Then, Sesshomaru happened. And she knew two things from the moment he said her purifying energy soothed him; one, she loved him. Two, he too, would leave.

In one way or another she would, eventually, have to learn to live without him. His empire would fall; his name would be stained if anyone knew of her existence. She was a secret, and she never did secrets very well.

Kagome knew there were so many reasons why she couldn't love him. But most of them seemed silly once she put her finger on it. So she settled for this general feeling that they just couldn't happen, or else the world might end.

Now it was she who left.

Now, Koga was standing in front of her, the Daikijin mask slipping from her shaking fingers, and she felt too many things to even begin to analyze them.

After a brief second, shame won.

The lacquered wood sounded against the floor, and her hands shot up to her chest, feeling naked in the most horrible way.

A phrase echoed in her mind.

 _Don't see me_.

But he didn't look disgusted, or angry. He didn't even look like he had noticed her attire. He smiled with tender blue eyes she had missed so much. And there was also guilt so deep and tearing.

She knew he understood.

She knew he had tried to find her, to amend his mistakes. She knew he had blamed himself for her loss of her family. She knew he had married and mated -the golden handcuff around a single finger said enough-, and that he still missed her and the life she represented. She knew he had understood his presence, and ultimately absence, was a decisive factor on who she had become.

This used, abused woman, this ghost of Kagome that would walk away before anyone could decide she was not worth the scars, this mangled girl who could barely even cry anymore. This girl who missed him.

Him. Mated, married, so far away, so _not_ the man she was trying not to be in love with. So much past, so much she thought she had left behind.

Tears streamed down her face and he cleaned them with the rough thumb he had wrestled her with, had caressed her with, had brushed her lips with.

"Koga…" She repeated, and this time it went out in an exhale.

The next thing she knew he was kissing her, tight against his black silken yukata, hugging her by the waist so closely her feet separated from the floor. And she kissed him back, like they couldn't waste another second, like all these years had been tortuous enough. She breathed his exhale again, and felt like a child and _remembered him_. Like everything in between never happened, that it had all been a dream.

He made love to her, sweetly and softly, and erased all the pain, all the tears. He compensated for the lost time with caresses, disrobing her with loving hands, getting to know her body like he had once known the rest of her.

She whispered his name, a tangle of golden and milky skin and black hair tumbling on a borrowed bed, blue eyes hooded with desire and love staring at a similar pair that was yet so different. He growled his pleasure, feeling her burning miko energies engulfing him so delightfully slowly. He nestled into her and swore to never let go again.

For a blessed night it was like life had not passed at all.

But dawn broke, and time restarted.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello, hello, yes. Just in case you didn't quite hate me after the previous chapter (let me remind you I posted them both almost simultaneously) I bring you this tonight.

This, my beloved readers, is the chapter that has gotten me at least a couple of voodoo dolls out there. No, no amount of broken hearts, KogaKag shippers, death threats, people trying to set Kags on fire, bribes, or letters written in human blood will make me change the course of this part of the story. It's already set in stone xD (But feel free to try the bribes, who knows).

Jk. I know you might think Kagome's being illogical and the truth is: she is. We'll cover all this in chapter 13, I promise. Be patient. Still, keep this in mind: people choose the wrong person all the time (friend complaining about douchey S.O. but not dumping them scenario).

Koga isn't a bad guy either. Remember he's a wolf demon, he would NEVER give up his pack for ANYTHING. When it came down to choosing, instinct spoke.

Kagome grew up listening to the world yelling there was something sick and disgusting about her sexuality, and she has a self esteen the size of an acorn. Add to this the fact that Sesshomaru never offered a commited relationship, that she has no friends to turn to, and what do we get? A girl rebounding into a failed past relationship! :D

But don't worry, people. The illusion can only last for so long. Sesshomaru will be back in the next chapter and he's PISSED.

Don't forget to leave your death threats in the reviews! :3


	11. The Storm, part one: Thunders

**World 2: Time and Forgiveness**

 _"Tim is off on a search to rescue the Princess. She has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster. This happened because Tim made a mistake."_

 _"Not just one. He made many mistakes during the time they spent together, all those years ago. Memories of their relationship have become muddled, replaced wholesale, but one remains clear: the princess turning sharply away, her braid lashing at him with contempt."_

 _"He knows she tried to be forgiving, but who can just shrug away a guilty lie, a stab in the back? Such a mistake will change a relationship irreversibly, even if we have learned from the mistake and would never repeat it. The princess's eyes grew narrower. She became more distant."_

 _"Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness. By forgiving too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we've learned from a mistake and become better for it, shouldn't we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?"_

 _"What if our world worked differently? Suppose we could tell her: 'I didn't mean what I just said,' and she would say: 'It's okay, I understand,' and she would not turn away, and life would really proceed as though we had never said that thing? We could remove the damage but still be wiser for the experience."_

 _"Tim and the Princess lounge in the castle garden, laughing together, giving names to the colorful birds. Their mistakes are hidden from each other, tucked away between the folds of time, safe."_

'World 2: Time and Forgiveness', _Braid._

* * *

 _ **December the 4th, Year One**_

 **Chapter Eleven: The Storm**

 **Part One: Thunders**

Kagome was happy.

With the stupid illusion of going back in time, she picked up when she left, believing she could pretend nothing bad at all had happened.

No Miroku, no Sesshomaru, no money, or night, or clients, or flowers, or a purse filled with Essentials.

She knew this was a break from reality, but she really needed a vacation. Once the bubble popped, she'd be in for catastrophe… but she would burn that bridge when she got to it.

Koga tickled her and she squirmed and giggled, sweet purity emanating from her body, tickling him back. He straddled her hips with his knees, bended over her and kissed the tip of her nose, and she grinned.

"I missed you."

"I missed ya too." But his eyes turned somber. "Want to tell me…?"

"About what happened? No. Just shut up and kiss me. We'll never talk about that again."

He nodded. "Good." And he did.

"Let's take a shower?"

"I'll call room service to get us breakfast. Get in and set the water."

"Sir, yes sir!"

He chuckled as he grabbed the phone and started dialing.

A few moments later he was making love to her under the running water, then she was brushing and drying his hair, and then they were having breakfast in bed.

Then his cell rang.

Koga stared at the screen and sighed.

Kagome smiled, knowingly. "Your wife?"

He looked at her in the eye and nodded.

"Take it. It's ok."

After a moment of hesitation he did so. With monosyllables he confirmed everything was alright and that he would be back home soon. Then she heard silence on the other side of the phone and the feminine, distant voice spoke again. His eyes darkened. "That's none of your damn business, but yes."

His wife talked.

"Yes. Yes I am."

She heard an unintelligible rant, and then his mate had hung up. "She says hi," declared the wolf dryly.

She sighed, softly. "What's she like?"

"Huh?"

"Your wife. How's she like?"

"I wouldn't really know. We've never really talked."

"Does she love you?"

He snorted. "She can't stand me. But we manage."

Pack dynamics and arranged matings. When your alpha has lived to see the millennia walk past him, some things just don't change. "Is she pretty?"

"She's youkai."

"So… is she pretty?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I don't like her, though. She's noisy and annoying."

"She knows you're with me," she said slowly, more like a statement than a question.

"Yep."

"Does she mind?"

"Yeah, she gets so angry. But things are what they are. I'm in for a beating when I go back, though."

She smiled. "How long have you two been together?"

"They got us married right after I came back. So, 'bout two and a half years. Too long."

"Did you stay in school?"

"Nah. Why bother? I didn't have time to change the world no more."

"You wanted to be a lawyer…"

"For the same reason you wanted to be an interspecies ambassador."

"I'm studying now. Third semester."

"That's good. I'm glad you're still fighting the good fight. Go out there, make those laws."

She smiled and her fingers twisted nervously around each other.

"Koga… Are you happy? Not just now. I mean… in general."

He smirked. "Of course not.

* * *

"Am I going to see you again?"

"Every second I can escape, I'm spending it with ya."

She beamed.

* * *

Having Koga back transformed Kagome.

She refused to take any call that wasn't his under the excuse of being busy with her studies, and there was a bounce in her step. Miroku was losing his temper, but what did she care? She was too happy to mind his wallet.

Koga wasn't exactly poor, but he was the definition of a middle class guy. So, most of the time they met extra officially at her apartment. After a couple of weeks, she refused to take him as a customer anymore.

"I'll make love to you because I want to. I don't want you paying. It's an insult to what we have."

* * *

Snow fell idly outside her window and he softly kissed her nape and her shoulders with an open mouth, branding with scorching lips parts of her that had always belonged to him. "Let's live together."

"But how?"

"We can rent an apartment, a small one, and we can live there, where no one will bother us. You can leave this and come with me."

"And your wife?"

"I don't care. I'll check on her, whatever."

"I can't let you pay for everything. You can't own me, Koga."

"You're working in that internship. We'll both hold our house."

"And your family?"

"I already did all they asked from me. Now I want to be selfish."

She smiled. "I'll think about it."

* * *

 _ **December the 31st, Year One**_

One day Kagome woke up startled from the sound of her ringing phone. She groaned and searched the night table with the tips of her fingers until finding the insufferable device. It was almost six thirty a. m. of New Year's Eve day.

"Yeah?" She said sleepily.

Silence.

"Yeah? What can I do for you?" She insisted.

"Who are you? Where's Koga?" A feminine voice said tightly on the other side of the line.

Kagome's chest froze.

She stared at the phone in shock, seeing it was Koga's. He probably had taken hers by mistake the night before.

An eon dragged in a second.

"I… I'm sorry… I should go…"

"No, don't hang up! Don't be a coward."

She felt her world turning over. "O-ok…"

"Meet me today. We need to talk."

Koga's mate drily indicated the café where they would meet two hours later, before hanging up, and Kagome remained staring at the screen for a whole minute until finally succumbing to panic.

* * *

Her leg wouldn't stop bouncing, and even she found it annoying.

Arriving five minutes too early had been by far the worst idea of her life. Kagome had time to think of every horrible possible scenario, every hateful and well deserved word the youkai wife of the guy she was seeing could say.

 _No_ , she told herself mentally. _You'll talk about this. You'll tell her Koga's the love of your life, that she doesn't have to endure a loveless, arranged marriage anymore, that she too can find a man she loves and…_

The café's door opened, the doorbell chiming.

Her eyes shot up to find a redheaded wolf entering the store, and she prayed every deity she knew of for it _not_ to be Koga's wife.

They didn't listen.

The youkai sniffed the air, and she knew she had detected him in her scent. With a decided step, the girl walked over and sat down right across from her after her green orbs found blue ones.

Still, she clung to the small hope that this _wasn't_ her, because Koga would _never_ …

She looked down at the toddler that had trotted by the youkai's side. Black hair, green eyes, his round face looking no older than two years old, albeit mature given his demonic heritage, a testament of perfect inhuman genetic. A proud heir for a long line of wolf youkai.

Worse. During the small distance the woman had walked towards her, Kagome detected the small bump on her stomach. Either her anatomy was odd, or she was clearly expecting a second child.

 _But Koga would_ ** _never_** _…_

The redhead took a slow inhale and let it go equally deliberately. Then, she turned to the child, who had positioned himself on a chair and was brushing his white tail with his claws. "Hajime, why don't you go to the garden right there and play on the grass for a while?"

The kid nodded and grinned brightly, before rushing to play outside.

The woman turned to the human, and she looked so angry and so pained and so tired, and the undone priestess almost chocked on an apology.

The waiter came, and the youkai ordered something she didn't pay attention to. Kagome only asked for water.

"Do you understand now?" She said slowly, after the server left. "He might not love me, but he loves his son. We need him home, where he _belongs_."

Kagome nodded.

"Then I need you to stop seeing him."

"I…"

"I'm sure you'll manage."

"Excuse me?"

"You're a pretty human. You'll find more regular customers. Just leave my husband alone."

Kagome blinked, her head racing, then lowered her forehead. "Did he tell you I'm his prostitute or you inferred it on your own?"

The other remained silent for a second. "He told me," she said with doubt. "But… you're not," came the realizing statement.

A sad smile spread across her face as she shook her head, feeling tears building in her eyes. _Not anymore_ , she thought. "No, I'm not… Koga and I… We're high school sweethearts. We…"

A gasp, and she looked up to see the other covering her mouth with a clawed hand. "You're Kagome."

"He's… told you about me?"

She shook her head. "No, but everyone at the colony knew of you. You two caused quite the scandal a few years ago."

"I… see." A dry laugh. "You know my name and I haven't even asked yours."

"I'm Ayame," the other answered slowly.

"Ayame…" She smiled. "Your son is… I mean, he looks just like Koga."

"I know."

"He's beautiful. I always…"

"What?" The other pressed when Kagome didn't speak.

"Nothing, it's just silly."

"Tell me."

Her heart clenched. "I always thought that, if Koga and I had children, they wouldn't have a choice but to be black haired with blue eyes. It's funny that his son has green… I mean…" She shivered. "I'm sorry, that was a misplaced comment. I just…"

 _I just envy you, I despise you because you're living the life I dreamt of and you hate it. It should've been me. It should have been_ ** _me_** _._

Kagome swallowed dryly, steeling herself not to cry. "I don't know. I'm sorry; I just should shut up… Say, Ayame," she mumbled, desperate to stop putting her foot in her mouth. Patient silence answered. "Are you…? Are you pregnant?"

 _WHY WOULD I ASK THAT!?_

"Yes. Two months now."

"Ah, I see."

Kagome knew wolf cubs would be born after just five months, so this meant she would be four or five months pregnant by human standards.

Silence dragged again when the waiter returned carrying a tray. He placed a cup of black coffee and a large piece of strawberry cake in front of the youkai, gave Kagome her water, and left immediately, sensing he wasn't welcomed to linger longer.

Ayame softly called her son, and he came jogging, diving into the sweet treat with a spoon, helped by his mother not to make a mess of himself.

An eternity later, the demon spoke again. "I still need you to stop seeing him," she said, not looking into her blue eyes.

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to tell her she loved him, that they could work it out, that she was a part of Koga and as such, she could maybe, just _maybe_ be a part of their family too. That she should find someone for herself who would love her and she could want back, that they could all have everything, that no one needed to make sacrifices…

Instead, Kagome just nodded.

"I'll break it off. I give you my word." And she stood up, shouldering her purse.

"You will?" She asked, unbelieving, like she was ready to admit imminent defeat.

"Tonight." And she fled.

* * *

He laughed and apologized for taking her phone, scratching his nape with a silly smile, holding a champagne bottle to celebrate the new year in the other hand, and he broke her heart.

After exchanging devices standing at her door, the immediate next thing Koga knew was a palm had collided with his face, leaving behind a sting that couldn't even been compared to the shock at her actions. "What the…?"

"Ayame called. I met her," she growled.

His face paled. "You've got no right…" He began after a minute, his expression twisting into a scowl.

"I've got _every_ right. You told me of a wife, not of _two_ children."

His chest went up and down in furious and panicked heaves. "That's beside the point."

"I'm not the girl you came back to after they forced you into an arranged marriage. You've made me _a home-wrecker_!"

"That's not true!"

"No? Then mind explaining when were you going to mention the fact that you're a _father_?"

"I would!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Eventually, but yes!"

"And you would've introduced me like what? Your whore like you made your wife believe? Is that what I am to you? A prostitute you can go to for free?"

"Kagome, you _are_ a hooker!" The words tasted bitter coming out of his mouth, and he regretted them the instant he told them. "The point is, you _aren't_ that for me, you know it! I've known you since forever!"

But she wasn't listening anymore. All she could hear was the crash of her deservedly broken heart. Tears fell, she clenched her teeth. "And what would I have been? 'Hajime, this is auntie Kagome, who you'll eventually find out I'm screwing'; is that your plan?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"Then?"

"You'd be my friend, my childhood friend, my woman."

" _That's_ what you would tell your son _eventually_?"

"When he's old enough, has his own mate, his own life going on."

She blinked. "You would've waited at least _twenty years_ to tell your kids about us!?"

"Kagome, you're being unreasonable."

"I'm…!? I'm being _unreasonable!?_ You're married! You're a _father_! You're telling me you won't hide me, except you _will_ , from the people who matter the most!"

"You're getting ahead of yourself, why do you care about my kids knowing…?"

"Why? If your son's just a toddler but still knows his parents don't love each other and sees them fighting every day, just _why_ wouldn't you want to tell your kids about me? About the one woman that's made you happy!"

He didn't answer.

"Is it because I'm a _hooker_? Is it because _I'm_ not your wife? Because I'm the side girl? Why, Koga, _why!?"_

"Because you're human!"

She stared, mute.

The wolf felt the universe falling apart. He lowered his eyes and his fists tightened into balls.

"No, don't be quiet now," Kagome hissed. "Go on. Elaborate. 'Because I'm human,' what about it?"

"Because… I've got to set an example for them." A ghost of a smile almost crossed his lips. "Hajime, you should see him. He imitates everything I do…"

He looked up at her, and she hated him for what she saw there: he was convinced of his reasons.

"If I came up and told him I've got a human lover, he'd grow up thinkin' it's normal. He would try and do the same… And I know what it's like for every set of eyes to be on you. For everyone to judge you and find you disgusting."

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, deafening, and she almost screamed. "You're just like them! You're just like everyone else! You'd change who you are if you could!"

"Of course! Everything would be so much easier! Wouldn't you?"

"No. I'd never change it. I'd never wish I hadn't fallen in love with a youkai. _Never_!" A thought flashed in her mind, of golden eyes, silver hair, pale skin, and magenta and blue.

"That doesn't mean I don't love you! Things are what they are, why is this so important to you?"

"Because you hate this! You don't want to love me, you just do! Loving me doesn't make you happy and it never will. You're… You…"

"Kagome…" he murmured tenderly, apologetically.

"No! Get out of here. Leave before you ruin every single memory I've got of you _again_."

"What!? You can't kick me out!"

"Oh just _watch me_ , you _asshole_!"

"What the hell is wrong with you!? You knew I had a life and a family! I don't understand!"

"Because you're a traitor!" Koga's head jerked in surprise. "You've betrayed everything you are. You not only abandoned me, you also betrayed the things that make you, _you_!"

"That's not true! There's more to me than loving a human!"

"Still, you're disloyal, a traitor. You left me! _You_ ** _left_** _me!_ How could you, you son of a bitch!?"

Kagome had woken up.

"Look, I'm sorry I left, I'm sorry I didn't choose to give up my family and my whole life," he said, passive-aggression dripping from his words. "But how was I supposed to know you wouldn't go back home? I tried to find you, and I finally did. I'm trying to fix things. Give this up, come with me. We can still be together. Just stop fighting me!"

"Koga, you're _**married**_! You made your choices, you _can't_ have everything!"

"Why not?"

" _Because it's not enough!_ " She screamed, loud and echoing in the hall, and only then did she realize they were fighting outside, for the entire world to hear.

She leaned against the door frame.

"Leave me alone, Koga. You made your decisions, I made mine. We're pretending we're teens again, and we aren't… I really want to still be your friend. But I need you to leave right now… Please, I don't wanna keep on hating you."

He stared in shock, snarled and spat in her face the word, "Fine," before whirling and walking away, swishing tail, stiff shoulders… probably forever.

She stood there, in the hallway, staring at the mouth of the stairs that had swallowed him away. After an eternity, she went inside, closed the door, and swore herself not to cry.

 _Closure_ , she told herself. _This is good, you needed closure. You finally yelled at his face, not nodding like an imbecile and taking his shit. This is good for you, this is good._

She went to sleep with an empty stomach and an empty bed. Outside, fireworks illuminated the sky.

* * *

 _ **January the 3rd, Year Two**_

 _Don't think about it_.

And she typed on her computer.

 _Just don't think about it_.

And she had lunch with her coworkers, giggling and gossiping.

 _Just don't feel anything. You're fine._

"Higurashi-san?"

She turned with a smile to see one of the guys from the management area. "Yes, Tanaka-san?"

"I've got a call for you. From…" He made an exaggerated gesture, pointing at the ceiling. " _Above_."

"Huh?"

"One of the main investors of the Group asked to talk specifically to you. His secretary's on the line."

Oh she knew quite _well_ who in the magnificent Pantheon of TG could want her to call him, but she still played along. "Am… am I in trouble?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. It's not every day that there's a Big Boss calling an intern. I'd rush to take it, though. I bet he hates waiting."

Kagome ran.

She picked up the phone with trembling hands. "Y-yes? Higurashi Kagome here."

"Good evening, Higurashi-san. My name is Ishikawa Megumi, I call on behalf of Taisho Sesshomaru-sama" _Figures_ , Kagome thought, and in her mind her voice sounded panicky. "He would like to schedule a meeting to discuss a possible and very special service you may be interested in performing for Taisho Bioresearch. We know this is not the specific company you work with within the Taisho Group, so this would be a side employment and be paid as such. If you are interested in discussing this opportunity, you should first sign a confidentiality agreement before meeting Taisho-sama."

She almost yelled ' _WHAT!?_ ' at the phone, but held back at the last possible moment. She sighed. "Yes, of course."

"Excellent. Would January the seventh at four o'clock work for you? You could meet with the lawyers at nine a. m. the same day."

 _Do I even have a choice?_ "Yes, that would be fine."

"Perfect. They'll get to you. Taisho-sama will be expecting you in his office. You will have to pass by security first, so make sure to arrive five minutes early. Do you need the address?"

"No, it's ok, I know where TBSA's office building's at."

"Great. We will be waiting for you, then. Have a good day, Higurashi-san."

"Thanks, you too." The line went dead and Kagome stopped herself from screaming in frustration.

* * *

 _ **January the 6th, Year Two**_

She really, _really_ had tried to stop herself from doing this.

For three straight days she kept herself at bay with the voice in her head saying this was something work related, that Sesshomaru had _not_ called her through a job channel to discuss something _private_.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling this was _not_ a meeting she wanted to be at. What if there were other people and they had to pretend they didn't know each other? Worse, what if they were _alone_?

What would she do?

She swallowed, staring at her screen, staring at his number, staring into the second part of the atomic bomb she had been detonating and just could. Not. Stop!

She called him.

He picked up the phone after the second beep. "Yes?"

He sounded so cold, so professional, so detached, so…

 _Angry_.

"You wanted to see me tomorrow," she mumbled.

"I believe that is why we made an appointment. So we could talk _tomorrow_."

She clenched her jaw, narrowed her eyes. "What're you up to?"

She almost heard him smile cynically. "I am not up to anything, _Higurashi-san_. Taisho Bioresearch could benefit from your… qualities. This is nothing but a business proposition."

She frowned, and felt the sting of tears behind her nose. "Of what kind? You've got business partners who need entertainment and a hooker would be useful, so you thought of me?"

"You seem to have a certain fixation with that topic. No, Higurashi-san, this is a different kind of proposition. Although I did not know you were open to performing such services."

"Screw you!"

"You say these things, yet when I repeat them I am being insulting?"

Kagome felt like throwing her phone against the wall. "You're a pig."

She heard a soft chuckle on the other side of the line. "Do you want to make this personal?"

"It _is_ personal!"

"Indeed?"

"Of course!"

"Odd. Last thing I knew you said you loved me and then left in the morning. You disappeared altogether. That, as far as I know, severs any interactions of the personal type."

"C'mon, you say it like you _cared,_ " she hissed.

"What do you know of what I care about?"

"Then _why_ didn't you call me?"

"Because I am done chasing you," he said disinterestedly, like he was inspecting his claws.

Silence.

Kagome had been hurt too many times in her life. But to hear that, for some reason, was _really_ painful.

"Ok."

"Good. I am glad we are on the same page. Is there anything else I can help you with, Higurashi-san?"

She tried to ignore his dismissive tone, tried to forget him and remember a boss. That was it. _Don't feel anything, don't think anything_. She ignored his question.

"Then can I know what kind of business proposition you're planning on making tomorrow? Will there be more people? I need to prepare myself to know how to act in front of you."

"Just keep on doing what you have been doing, of course."

"And that is?" She growled.

"Pretend we do not know each other."

"I never did that!"

"Oh? Then _why_ did _you_ not call _me?"_ He said with mocking amusement.

"You know why…" She whispered.

"No, I do not know. Enlighten me. Because as far as I am concerned, you ignored the fact that I might, just might, be able to feel things too. That you are not the center of the universe. You ignored the fact that you, running away, could have _hurt_ … But what do I know. After all, according to you, I care about nothing but myself."

He remained quiet, dull golden eyes fixed on the wall, a steel mask on his face, his voice carefree, while listening to her refrained sobs on the other side of the phone. She was trying to articulate an explanation and failing miserably. He waited until she gave up.

"I believe," he said after several eternal moments, "it would be better to cancel tomorrow's meeting. I will send the written business proposition and pertinent papers with the lawyers, so you can assess them after signing the confidentiality agreement. Do you agree?"

She took a deep, slow breath. "Yes," she said, trying to gather what little dignity she had left. "That would be acceptable."

"Very good. Have a nice evening, Higurashi-san."

"Good evening, Taisho-sama."


	12. The Storm, part two: Isewan

_Tú eras el huracán y yo la alta_  
 _torre que desafía su poder:_  
 _¡tenías que estrellarte o que abatirme...!_  
 _¡No pudo ser!_

 _Tú eras el océano y yo la enhiesta_  
 _roca que firme aguarda su vaivén:_  
 _¡tenías que romperte o que arrancarme...!_  
 _¡No pudo ser!_

 _Hermosa tú, yo altivo: acostumbrados_  
 _uno a arrollar, el otro a no ceder;_  
 _la senda estrecha, inevitable el choque..._  
 _¡No pudo ser!_

 _…_

You were the hurricane and I the tall  
tower that its power defies:  
You had to crash or demolish me...!  
It could not be!

You were the ocean and I the upright  
rock that unyieldingly awaits its sway:  
you had to break or tear me...!  
It could not be!

Beautiful you, haughty me: accustomed  
one to trample, the other not to cede;  
narrow the road, collision unavoidable...  
It could not be!

 _Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, 'Rima XLI'_

* * *

The **Isewan Typhoon** (伊勢湾台風) was the strongest and deadliest cyclone to ever strike Japan. The storm almost devastated the country, resulting in damage of unparalleled severity and extent to a nation still weakened and recovering from World War II. Over five thousand people perished during its rage.

* * *

 **January** _ **the 7th, Year Two**_

 **The Storm**

 **Part Two: Isewan**

Kagome's eyes slowly skimmed the paper, still puffy and sore from so much crying and rubbing from last night.

She read the words 'non-disclosure', the addresses of both Sesshomaru and her -it was funny, how in a single sentence, his position as master of the universe, living in Chiyoda, was re-asserted, and her apartment in Edogawa suddenly seemed small and insufficient-, and her designation as "Receiving Party", the taiyoukai being the "Disclosing Party".

 _ **For all intents and purposes of this Agreement, "Confidential Information" shall mean and include any data or information that is deemed proprietary of the Disclosing Party and that which is not generally known to the public, whether in tangible or intangible form, whenever and whoever disclosed, including, but not limited to, (i) any form of marketing plans, strategies, financial information or projections…**_

 _Why so generalized?_ She thought with a slight twist to her lips, not even bothering to acknowledge the nasty look the lawyer seemed to be giving her.

Because there was no way in _hell_ she would be signing a contract without having a general idea of what she was accepting.

She continued reading.

 _ **…**_ _ **(iii) any scientific, technical or data information, invention, design, process, procedure, formula, improvement, technology or method; (iv) any concepts, reports…**_ _BORING!_ She screamed in her mind, and moved on.

For a second, the girl shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the reptilian eyes that wouldn't leave her form. The lawyer across the table was making her uncomfortable.

 _ **Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing statement to the contrary, Confidential Information shall not include such information which…**_ _stuff I knew before, stuff someone else tells me, stuff that becomes public without my involvement…_ ** _(iv) is required to be disclosed in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or is otherwise requested or required to be disclosed by law or regulation_** _, ok, that's important._

 _ **Confidential Information Disclosure**_ _, each party shall be responsible for shutting their own mouths, blah, blah, blah… Gee, this is really redundant._

 _ **Confidential Information Usage… Induced Disclosure of Confidential Information, Independent Development…**_ _Will this thing repeat the same stuff over and over again?_

 _ **Term**_ _,_ ** _the herein contained Agreement shall remain in effect…_**

Kagome jumped from her place. "TWO HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE COMPLEITION OF THE PROJECT OR DURING THE REST OF MY LIFE, WHICHEVER CAME LATER!?"

The lawyer quirked a brow. "Is there a problem, Higurashi-san?"

"So I can't tell anyone about this for the rest of my life or next two hundred years?"

"The contract can be subject to an extension of three hundred more."

"And… is this really necessary? How am I supposed to live so long?"

"There is no legal speculation as for how long a human may live, Higurashi-san. In the case of youkai, we state millenniums."

She blinked at the piece of paper. "So you hope for the best?"

The lawyer smirked, her slit pupils contracting in yellowish green eyes. "We hope for the worst."

 _Jerk!_ She spat in her head, before continuing reading.

The agreement continued blabbing on and on about the reigning laws, the personal nature of itself, and things of the like, defining _who_ Higurashi Kagome was, and _who_ was Taisho Sesshomaru and how he represented Taisho Bioresearch S. A..

She finally reached the last of the five insufferable pages, and found the graceful signature of the inuyoukai, one she could easily recognize, since she had received several checks at the beginning of their… "relationship". She clenched her teeth. Next to the flourish there was a round, red stamp with the two well-known kanji, his family name printed through the jitsuin, making this an official matter.

She stared at his name. The five characters dancing in a form so bold, even though it had been made with a pen, it still resembled brush calligraphy.

大

将

殺

生

丸

 _I wonder_ , she randomly thought, _how many documents you've signed in over half a millennia._

The lawyer cleared her throat. Kagome almost jumped. She quickly scribbled her own signature in both copies of the document, much simpler, less elegant, no red stamp. "There, all done."

"Perfect," the old crocodile demon said with a mannerly smile. "These here are the specifications of Taisho-sama's business proposition. If you were to agree with them, you only have come to his office after making an appointment and sign in front of a witness. A piece of advice, though: I personally recommend taking that contract to a lawyer of your own. I am not allowed to converse about the contents, of course, but paperwork that demands a non-disclosure agreement is usually better discussed with a professional seeing for your interests."

She nodded dumbly, receiving the thick stack of papers inside a sealed envelope in her hands. The lawyer excused herself, wished her a good day, and left.

After a couple of minutes of staring at the closed package, Tanaka from management popped his head by the door. "Higurashi-san?"

"Huh? Yes?"

"Everything alright?"

"Yes… Yes! Sorry, got distracted. This is quite a dazzle."

The young oni smirked around his massive tusks, hands the pockets of his dress pants. He was over seven feet tall and had a relatively well-proportioned figure, surely with some mixed blood, since pure ogres were thick and bulky. His ashen white hair fell by his scarlet angular face all the way down to his shoulders, around his pointy ears and long horns. His aquiline nose scrunched. "So what did the old dog want?"

Naoki Tanaka was her closest coworker, and very dear to her. They often shared lunch time, and he was always very attentive since she began working at the company ten months ago, while almost everyone else saw her as nothing but a new, annoying intern. She showed him the piece of paper the crocodile had left behind, her copy of the non-disclosure agreement. "To keep me quiet. For now."

"Oh, a confidentiality contract? That's gotta be important, then!"

The guy sat in front of her at the meetings table, his elbows on his long legs. "What do you think it has to do with?"

She glared. "I just told you I can't tell you!"

He chuckled. "Wanted to see if you were payin' attention."

"Suuuure."

He cleared his throat. "So… Hey, tell, you've met the big boss in person?"

Her mind raced. "O-once I saw him here."

"I see. He's an iceberg, let me tell ya. Once he made Ikeda-sama cry!"

"Really!? Ikeda-sama as in the ruthless boss of the boss of your boss, _the_ Ikeda-sama?"

"Himself!"

Kagome snorted.

The oni grinned, huge fangs and twisted tusks. Then he pointed at the stack of documents next to the sheet of paper. "Discuss that with a lawyer. Don't let them scam you."

"Yeah, the attorney that just left told me the same thing."

"Good. Be the smart one, Higurashi-san. These guys have enough power already."

She smiled at the sweet male. "Thanks. I'll do that."

"By the way, the top dog's secretary called. He wants you to take the rest of the day to analyze his _surely_ indecent proposal."

Kagome's face turned so red she almost matched the oni's. "What could make you think that!?"

"C'mon, Higurashi-chan, you're a pretty girl, he's used to getting everything he wants, he asks you to sign a confidentiality agreement… _Surely_ he wouldn't hesitate to use his power as an employer to abuse such a tiny cutie pie as yourself. You know, the rich ones are always pervs!"

She stood, fists balled. "I'm no tiny cutie pie!"

He did the same, staring down at the human girl who barely reached his lower ribs, and placed a hand of long, clawed fingers on top of her head. He only laughed before adding, "You're right, you're pocket size and unhealthily adorable."

She kicked his shin.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"For making fun of me!" She poked him on his flat belly, making him snort. Kagome glared at his yellow eyes.

"Fine, fine! I'm sorry. You're a big, mean girl. Say, Higurashi-sama, since I already know you're free today, wanna go have some coffee during my lunch break?" He looked at his wrist clock, seeing it was a little over twelve thirty. "I know a café five minutes from here. It's quite nice. They serve meals too, if coffee or tea isn't what you're carving for."

This time her blush was softer, but her expression was stricken. "I… Tanaka-san, I'm… human?"

He frowned, confused, then his eyebrows shot up and he raised his hands, trying to placate her assumption. "No, no! I meant, as _friends_! I'm ok with that, but... No, heavens, can you imagine?" He shuddered visibly. "No offense, Higurashi-san, but you're a little too… _not-horned_ for my tastes. I don't swing that way."

She giggled awkwardly. "Yeah, can you imagine?"

* * *

For several, fun minutes, Kagome relaxed.

She decided this was what her life was missing. Friends.

Tanaka-san, who had insisted on being called by his first name, so she actually meant Naoki-kun, was a wiseass, always had a comeback he would throw to your face unless he decided to spare you the humiliation. He was nice, and fun, and made her laugh.

And he was brave.

When the waiter came to their table to offer the menu with a disgusted frown that hadn't quite yet left his expression, he beckoned him back to their side.

"Bro, there's something on your face," Naoki said, pointing from his place, bended on a table too low for his towering body, with a concentrated gaze.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, right there. Those are prejudice wrinkles, bro. Those do you bad; they make you age faster, makes your heart too cold, and leave you without any tip!"

The waiter forced out a smile. "My apologies, sir."

"Not used to having youkai and human sitting together? Is this one of those _illegal_ segregating cafés?"

"No, sir, of course not!"

"They why does this bother you so?" He dismissed him. "Go on now, you still got to spit in our coffees."

The employee wanted to complain, but the demon ignored him ostentatiously. Kagome seemed mortified, but the oni just laughed and kept on talking excitedly about baseball's pre-season.

After the waiter left, he frowned. "I hate people like that. This shitty attitude towards interspecies interactions should be long over."

Kagome bit her lip. "I should tell you something. If we're friends… Naoki-kun, you should know something."

"Huh?"

"We're both working in a company that manages interspecies public relationships and publicity… I'm studying to be a human-youkai diplomat. I'm…" She scratched her nape. "I know you've got no problem with demons and human being friends, I mean, clearly. But… You know, I've always…"

"Kagome-chan, you're prattling. To the point!"

She blushed. "My dream is to get to pass a law allowing youkai and humans to marry… That's what I'm studying for. I personally don't mind interspecies relationships… I…" Her voice became lower than a whisper. "…was involved in a couple of them, actually. It's not like I'm interested in you like that! I just think it'd be the right thing for you to understand what kind of person you're associating with. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

Naoki blinked. A minute dragged.

"So…?"

"Huh?"

"I'm… waiting for the next part?" He said slowly.

"The… next part?"

"Yeah?"

"There's no next part."

"That's _it_?"

She was the one blinking slowly this time. "Yes, that's it."

He smiled like she had said something very dumb. "Okay?"

"You're… not angry? Or disgusted?"

He shrugged, same silly grin on his fanged mouth. "I'm ok with that, Kagome-chan. That law should have existed for a long time now. No, I take that back. It shouldn't even be necessary to declare it legal, it should have been legal all the time."

She stared at his face, eyes big as plates. "You mean that?"

He chuckled. "I grew up in a human neighborhood, Kagome-chan. I've got more human friends than youkai ones. I really appreciate your honesty, though. It's a big part of your life and sadly also probably a big secret. Thanks for sharing." He grinned. "And now, if you need advice about youkai men, you've got a reliable source to come to! And if a youkai boyfriend makes you mad, I'm strong enough to break his legs! That's a win-win for everyone because I happen to like breaking abusive men's legs… well; maybe it's not a win for the idiot."

She beamed, and for some reason felt herself on the verge of tears. She had never had a friend who supported her… _sexual orientation_? She thought. _Tastes. Who supports my romantic tastes._

So, Naoki was also understanding, and it made Kagome happy. He giggled like a schoolgirl when making dirty jokes, complimented how the coffee _almost_ didn't taste like angry waiter's spit, boasted about his ability to beat every high score ever in Galaga, he told her about his mom, dad, and _twenty seven_ siblings, of which he was the youngest. "You don't want to imagine what the line for the bathroom even looks like."

And she laughed with him, relaxed, and for a moment just forgot, listening to his endless chatter.

But the hour ended, he went back to work, and she was forced upon real life again.

She opened her bag and saw the brown envelope containing Sesshomaru's job proposition.

Kagome went home to try and read the thing privately and calmly.

When she arrived, however, she was welcomed by a familiar sight.

The slim window to the right of the entrance of her apartment was broken. _Just like last April,_ she thought.

Peeking inside, she found nothing but crushed glass. She cleaned the mess and called the building manager, who promised to come and fix it within the hour.

She sat down on her bed and stared at the stack of papers.

Since the manager was about to come and replace the window, there was no point in getting into deep, intense reading, if she would be distracted in a few minutes. So she made herself some lunch, watched TV, and waited.

The manager showed up three hours later.

"It's the second time it happens," she complained before he left.

"In how long?"

"About eight months."

"Then it cannot have been on purpose," he explained. "Also, Higurashi-san, there were three complaints of annoying noises against you here on your floor. We let it slide because it was your first infraction, but please, refrain yourself from yelling at night."

Her face flared red. She knew he was talking about her fight with Koga, or at least hoped so. "Yes, of course."

The man left. Kagome glanced at her phone, seeing it was almost six p.m., and sighed.

She sat down and pulled the documents from their sealed and signed envelope. They were bound in little stacks, so she began to read.

And read.

And read…

And _read_ …

She barely understood anything. So she started skipping over titles, until finally, on the third smaller pile, found three disturbing words.

She took the longest gasp of her life. Then it hit her. _But why_ ** _me_** _!?_

Her brain added two plus two. Then, she threw around the papers, until finding the explanation a good half an hour later.

Kagome stared, and then cried, and then screamed in rage, then lowered her voice remembering it was dinner time and her neighbors didn't appreciate her being loud.

"How dare you," she hissed at the air. "How _dare_ you!?"

She stood, grabbed her coat, the stuffing the stacks of papers in her bag, and the last page she had read tight and crumbled in her hand.

She went downstairs, flagged a taxi, and seethed all the way.

* * *

Sesshomaru heard the chirring and lengthy noise of his doorbell. Some _moron_ seemingly had gotten his finger glued to the button.

Snarling and leaving behind the reports he was reading, he went to the intercom, when the sight of Kagome in the small screen made him freeze. She was definitely _not_ happy, staring at the camera as if she were sending daggers directly into him.

He pressed the button to open the microphone. "Higurashi-san?"

"Open up." Was her demand.

He ignored her rude request. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Open. The. Fucking. Door."

"Why would I?" He asked, haughtily.

"Because you have some fucking explaining to do," she hissed. "Who the _hell_ do you think you are? I'm gonna kill you. You had no fucking right…"

"Bring it on, then," he answered dismissively, and the door was opened.

She started, narrowed her eyes at the camera, and slid into his private elevator.

Upstairs, he willed his breath to slow down. _Business,_ he reminded himself. _Nothing but business._

He left his door wide open and sat on the living room, waiting for her.

The sound of his door slamming shut indicated Kagome's arrival.

She stormed in, eyes red and glassy, cheeks flushed with anger and cold, lips pressed into a line, a green scarf around her neck, a brown trench, a short blue skirt, dark stocking, boots, stray snowflakes on her hair. Winter clad, like he had never seen her.

 _Business_ , he repeated, like a mantra.

He couldn't avoid, however, taking a deep sniff of her.

The rancid stench of strong, cheap perfume welcomed him and twisted his stomach. He could not sense anything behind that, and without her smelling like herself, it simply was as if she was not _Kagome_ … which, in a way, served his purpose of remaining aloof.

She threw the crumbled folio at him; it bounced off his chest. Then dug into her purse and extracted the rest of the well-known documents, tossing them at his feet. "Explain. Use small words."

Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow at the example of a tantrum in front of him. "Please, take a sit, Higurashi-san. May I take your coat? Would you like something to drink?"

She _saw_ him then. Braided hair, bare feet, a white shirt with the first button open, jeans. _Jeans… since when do you wear jeans?_ He was sitting on the leather chair he had had fixed months ago, since he once tore it with his claws while making her scream his name between orgasms using his talented tongue. They were in the room where they met, where he first touched her. It didn't go unnoticed by her.

 _No. Stop thinking like that. You don't want him. You don't want him... right now._

Despite all this, however, he remained aloof, distant, like a cold master of the universe. And she realized _this_ was the Taisho Sesshomaru the world saw every day. The businessman, the one in perfect control.

 _He_ _exsected me. He really doesn't care anymore._

She narrowed her eyes, letting herself plummet on the place she had also taken that time, crossing her legs full display in the same fashion as then, her skin hidden under the espresso colored stocking. "I didn't come here to visit. I came here to listen what you have to say in your defense."

He smirked. "Very well." He leaned down, picking up the crumbled page and the rest, placing the documents on the coffee table. "Taisho Bioresearch would like to hire you as an ova donor."

She clenched her teeth. He continued.

"Hanyou are a very odd occurrence. I have studied their late development thanks to my half-brother's help. However, the earliest time of a half-breed's life has never been observed. It is my intention to find out why hanyou, even if they are child to the same type of youkai parents, are so different from one another. Also to trace a genetic map, sequence the hybrid genes we find, and observe and register every step of the pregnancy, as well as the pre-pubescent years."

She remained quiet.

"With the help of a surrogate mother, and your ova, this is possible. Is that what you needed to know, Higurashi-san?"

She glared at him with disgust. "So you want to make an in vitro child with the sole purpose of pinch and analyze it, and you want me to be a part of it."

He looked genuinely insulted. "Not ever in my life would I plan on the conception of a creature only to conduct experimentation on it. This research's objective is to observe and register the development of a hybrid in natural conditions. The 'pinching' you are referring to would be eventual blood extractions. Nothing more."

He knew she expected invasive testing and examination, like she had seen in her brother as a child.

He took the stack of documents, and after a while, rummaging between papers, procured the passage he needed. He extended it to her. "That is why the contract explains you would not be using fertility drugs unless it is absolutely necessary to hasten the process. One ovum a month, or more, if you were prone to multiple pregnancy naturally. The price of each egg is stated, although my offer is debatable."

"I don't care about the money," she hissed. And now, she stared almost hatefully at him. "Now, explain _why_ ** _me_**. There's a million other healthy, young human girls who need the money more. Girls who have less twisted sexual records."

He remained silent.

"Why me, Sesshomaru? Tell me _right now_!"

"Because," he responded, cold and distant. "You are a reiki controller. Probably the only one in the world who could possibly be open to this offer."

Her face scrunched in pain. She _really_ hoped she had misunderstood that part while reading the sole crumbled foil that was on the table.

"I have been working on this research ever since the '70s, since the beginning of the genomics era and the first gene sequencing. In over thirty years we never had a successful fecundation, less than ever a pregnancy. When a hanyou is conceived, it comes to light way too late for it to be useful to us. We have observed pregnancies from the 31st week and on, but the first two months is where the embryo's development determines what it will be like. So, studying the pre-fetus stage is crucial…"

He leaned back in his chair. "It is much, much more common for hanyou to be conceived by a human mother and a youkai father. Between humans, the chance of pregnancy never is above thirty percent. This is, partially, due to the male gamete succumbing and never making it to the ovum in the first place. In the case of youkai females, human sperm is whipped away within seconds by the acidic environment and the leukocytes, the white blood cells. In the case of human females, youkai sperm kills the egg. It is as if it were eating it away. Two months ago, a hanyou female known to be fertile -since, as you probably know, half-breeds are usually sterile- lent us her help. The results were the same."

He smirked humorlessly. "The most frustrating part is that, in the case of weaker youkai, the sperm will simply not fertilize the egg, as if they were not compatible in the slightest bit. I am not proud to say this, but it is as in the case of trying to mix an animal's gamete with a human or youkai egg. And a stronger sample will simply kill it. The investigation has, once again, come to a halt."

He pointed at her with an open palm. "But with your help, we could be facing a new possibility altogether. If your ova has anything of your counter-demonic power, it could resist the attack of youkai seed, permitting a fecundation and, with some luck, even a successful pregnancy."

Over with his explanation, he looked at her stone façade for a long minute before she finally twisted her features into the most enraged scowl he had ever seen her show. "Let me get this straight… you plotted this little plan of yours, you can tell me this shit in my face, and still fail to lower your head in shame and ask me forgiveness?"

"Why should I?" He asked, aloof.

" _This_ ," she said, snatching the crumbled piece of paper, "is showing everyone you needed to know my deepest secret. _This_ is what I've been trying to hide since I had the slightest use of reason. _This_ is something I _trusted_ you with, something only you, me, and one more person know about. _Three people_ , Sesshomaru! Twenty years and only three people knew! And you went and had to discuss my name and my powers with your gang of lawyers and scientists, had to write it on paper, had to redact this load of bullshit… had to… Betray me like that!"

He stared down at her, fingers entwined, elbows on the arms of the chair. "This is why I should apologize? Did you consider the possibility you could be exaggerating? These people _would_ be bound to secrecy."

"That was not your decision to make! This secret was my most treasured thing, the one thing that made me, _me_ ; the one thing I could be privately be proud of! The only right decision I ever made! To keep my powers quiet. And you went and yelled it to the face of your employees!" She paled. "God, that disgusting crocodile demon knows… _knew_ the whole while…"

She pressed a hand against her chest. "You should have seen it in her eyes. She sat there, staring straight at me… She was judging me, thinking I was about to commit the most disgusting thing against both species. God…"

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Higurashi-san, you are succumbing to the weight or prejudice. You cannot even begin to imagine how many lawsuits TBSA has gotten because of this investigation for allegedly 'offending morality'. You are making this a bigger deal than it actually is."

"A bigger-! You son of a _bitch_!"

"Literally," he said with a smirk.

"AGH!" She shot up from her place, pacing furiously around the living room. "HOW DARE YOU JOKE IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS!?"

"It was not a joke, it was an observation."

"Shut up! Shut up or so help me! This is unforgivable! How could you do this to me? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!? And you dare to make me feel bad? Last night you made me feel like the lowliest scum, like I hurt your…!" She gasped. "That's it! This is your revenge!"

He would have snorted, but the disgusting implication made him snarl in repugnance. "Do you truly believe me so pathetic?"

"I'd rather believe you pathetic than believe you _stupid_!"

Sesshomaru growled and in the blink of an eye he was towering over her. "Do not dare to insult _me_ , miko."

She cowered, but immediately steeled herself. Fists and jaw clenched, she stood on her tiptoes, facing him with rage. "You've earned it. You are unworthy of my trust."

He opened his mouth to retort her words with a snarl, but his brain registered what he had smelled with that intake of air. Old, hidden under strong, floral perfume… but definitely there.

His eyes narrowed. "Wolf," he growled.

Kagome started, seeing his gaze slowly bleeding red.

Wolf. The stench of latex and wolf's sweat and saliva and seed was all around her, _inside_ her.

Granted, he had smelled other males on her, even after sharing a bed. But inside, ' _inside'_ was only his, ' _inside'_ was off-limits to anyone but him. It was all he ever truly had from her, and now it was someone else's.

This wolf had taken her over, and over, and over, and over again. He had had her so many times his smell was printed on her skin, under her nails, between her eyelashes, on her hair, in her tongue. And with that rancid perfume she had tried to _hide it._

He watched himself go mad, breaking all the promises he had made before seeing her again. He snarled, louder by the minute, until he was growling and then roaring. Kagome backed off, but he stalked behind her, until she was cornered against a wall, pale and shivering and terrified.

His claws shot to her and she flinched, eyes shut, preparing herself for the collision, which came against the hard wall, leaving behind a deep, cracked crater.

" **I will kill him** ," he seethed, an almost unrecognizable rusty rumble instead of his voice. " **You are** _ **mine**_ **and he has taken you.** "

Kagome found her courage. Glaring the mad taiyoukai straight in the eye, she squared her shoulders. "What I do and who I do it with is _none_ of your business. I am _not_ yours."

Deadly clawed fingers went to her chin, holding her firmly, without hurting her, but keeping her in place. She noticed he was shaking. " **You are** _ **mine**_ **.** "

"No. _Never_."

He lowered his mouth to hers, and just a sliver away from her lips, he repeated. " **You cannot belong to anyone else** ," he said, voice feral and jagged cheek stripes.

And her heart skipped a beat, but she still set her jaw. "I'll do whatever I want!" She pushed him away. "You're changing the subject! And what do you care!? You said it yourself, there's nothing personal between us. Not anymore! It's over!"

" _ **What**_ **is over, Kagome!?** _ **"**_ He howled. " **What has ended!? What started!?** _ **"**_ He strode back to her, grabbing her by the shoulders. " _ **Why do you keep running away!?**_ "

"I…!" She lowered her eyes, pained, and went mute.

" **And why can** _ **he**_ **have you!?** _"_ He pressed after a moment, shivering with rage, feeling his skin and bones tight and constrictive, wishing to set himself free and hunt down the offending male.

"He doesn't!" She explained automatically, and her voice became small. "I ended it a week ago…"

" **Why** …" And he sounded so pained she knew he didn't mean to question the ending of her affair, but rather why she had given _him_ the chance in the first place.

"It was him, okay!?" She cried out, and tears fell shamefully. "It was him, and it was all like before. He loved me… do you get it? He loved me _back_."

Sesshomaru understood.

His eyes turned completely red, blue replacing gold, and his muscles barely held his bones that wished to shift in place. " **You** _ **…**_ ," he began, refraining a roar that wanted to be howled, " **…you bedded the** _ **cub**_ **that left you alone, hungry, homeless, scared; the coward that led you to** _ **this**_ **life…** _ **willingly**_ **?** "

Her eyes lowered. She felt shame. "You can't judge me," came a whisper.

He snarled, shaking so hard her trembling mixed with his through the hands that held her shoulders. His crimson eyes were fixed burning through her, and she felt so stupid, so _dirty_.

 _I'm sorry I did it… I shouldn't have… If I could go back in time…_

So many things. She would change _so many things_.

 _I shouldn't have..._

"Why…" He spoke after a long moment, a semblance of control in his voice. "…do you do this to yourself? Why have you determined you deserve the pain? Why would you go to _him_ of all people… if not because you believe he was right to abandon you? Why… do you insist on harming yourself like this?"

Kagome left out a heart wrenching sob, chocking on her own tears.

Sesshomaru didn't sound tender, gentle, or understanding. She felt as if he were slipping his fingertips into every unclosed wound, tearing her apart.

He sounded disappointed.

"I don't know…" she murmured.

"Why, Kagome?"

"I don't know!" She shoved him away again and tried to run, but he caught her wrist and pulled her back to be in front of him.

"Why!?"

"I DON'T KNOW! LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!" She fought, kicked and struggled out of his hold, unsuccessfully.

"Not until you tell me why!"

"I want to go home! LET ME GO! YOU'RE HURTING ME!" She bit her lip.

"WHY, KAGOME!?"

"GO AWAY! MISERY! MISERY!" She screamed atop of her lungs, and his fingers immediately relented from their iron grip. She slid away, against the wall, curling on the floor, crying furiously.

He remained still as a statue, but she could almost hear his heartbeat.

And eternity dragged between them, like a vast abyss of all the things that made them different.

"You came here," he said slowly between her sobs after what seemed like an eon, "for a fight."

Kagome hugged herself tightly.

"I hate you too," and hearing it from his lips, said with such a soft voice, was not as brutal as she would have expected. "Let's heal."

He knelt by her side.

"Fight me. Kill me and let me kill you and let's start over. Isn't that what we have been doing all this time?"

"What?" Kagome whispered, looking up at his silhouette distorted by her watery gaze.

"Loathe me, hate yourself. Revel in it, feel nothing but anger, let me enjoy our wrath. Let's explode. Then we let go. Then, we start over."

The girl choked on her own words.

"I cannot go to you anymore, Kagome. It has to be you."

She stared at him, thick salt pouring from her eyes. He offered her an inviting palm and a soft smile, so sickeningly _loving_.

"Come here. Come here and destroy me."

Silence.

It took them both a moment to realize she was suddenly tangled around his form, kissing, biting, screaming against his lips. She was so angry, so tired, so hurt, so lonely, so lonely, lonely, _lonely_.

Reiki and youki flared frenziedly.

He almost lost balance but he held tight to her, like a lifeline, like the only real thing in the world. She kissed him with fury, with the rawest hate, with all the sorrow she had ever felt.

She bit his tongue and drew blood; he returned the favor with her lips. The coppery flavor drove her mad, and she tightly fisted her hands in his braided hair, pulling, and her dull nails bit his shoulders.

He did the same, roaming her body with claws that left behind scratches, roaring, groaning, letting go, touching everything.

Kagome yanked his shirt, ripping the buttons without ever stopping her kissing.

 _I want you, gods, I want you_. Every time their bodies clashed it made them more miserable. Every time she had him they were left gasping and hot from being too close to the sun and not quite there yet. Every time they were on the brink of something beautiful it was just not good enough, and it hurt _so much_ to know they couldn't give each other the very last drop that would overflow the ocean.

Kagome once thought love and hate were opposites. She was proved thoroughly wrong.

She had so much anger and wrath she had to work off. She wanted to rip him apart, to crawl into his chest and live in his heart, to bite, to yell, to punch, and kick, and scratch, and adore, and she had gone mad.

 _Let's kill each other, let's make it too much, I get it._

Her hands desperately searched for his flesh, and when she found it, she drew angry red lines on the pale background, willing his muscles to jump under her assault. Sesshomaru hissed, and she leaned down to bite on the crook of his shoulder, jaw tightly closed around his musculature, and he removed her coat, tugging carefully, undoing the buttons one at a time while she took her turn going crazy, massaging her full, soft breasts under the cotton bra, then slicing it because there was no time to waste and he was losing control. His digits brushed her nylon clad legs and took off her boots, then he yanked away her skirt and panties and she was grinding on him, her nude core rubbing against his groin, calling him, clad in her ruined stocking and green scarf and nothing more but her skin.

She pushed him, and he fell on his back. Kagome pulled down his jeans and underwear and he angled his body to help her, gasping when her hand circled tightly around his erection, squeezing and stroking.

When she leaned down and bit his member, he let out a bark. Her mouth engulfed his shaft and she looked up at him as she picked up a quick and furious rhythm, wanting to see his pained face staring back at her blue orbs, wanting to see him begging with red eyes. She sucked eagerly, angrily, feeling the new and salty flavor on her tongue, her taut lips, scratching with her teeth, gnawing on velvety skin, his hands tangled in black hair, the thrust of his hips, the wool rug burning on her knees. When he snarled and tightened his grip on her mane, his whole being convulsing warningly, she felt his load hit her tongue and slide down her throat and it tasted saline and sweet. She continued sucking until he could do nothing but jerk in response.

With the grip he had on her raven locks, he turned her around out of nowhere and covered her in crescent shaped bruises, breaking the skin, lapping her blood, finally reaching her junction and pulling hard on her clit with suction and sharp teeth, making her cry out in pain and pleasure, forcing her cum quickly with clawed fingers, drinking from her like he was starving with bloodshot eyes, and he thought she looked beautiful, shouting his name, back arched, her whole body screaming under his attentions, dying a little every time. He touched each right spot like a practiced pianist, because he _knew her_ , and she writhed and climaxed for him, at his whim, letting him compose a symphony with her orgasms. The burning sensation of her powers caressing his tongue almost made him lose control, but he had learnt to stay with her, wrapping his mind around her body, focused. He only stopped when he was certain her voice would be coarse later.

" _Mine_ ", he purred through his fangs, crawling up her body, taking a grip of her hips, angling her up and pulling her to him.

She glared at him, sweaty, panting, still angry, still not able to forgive him or herself. "I'm not," she hissed.

 _I'm lying._

He slowly willed her knees apart. He smiled at her, softly and wickedly, like a child with a plan. "Then I will make you my own."

In a single, violent thrust he sheathed himself in her body and she pierced the air with a scream as her eyes rolled back in her head, feeling him part her.

Her scorching, tight passage swallowed his length, and he almost climaxed there and then at the sensation of skin on skin, being set ablaze by her holy powers, by her whole soul tearing him apart and pulling him together. He panted, looking down, and seeing her blue eyes filled with tears of anything but pain. She was just as overwhelmed as him.

He had almost forgotten how it felt to be inside her, and stood still to be reacquainted with the sensation, giving her time to adjust his girth and the new burn of their auras and bodies finally completely in contact.

He reclaimed her. He set himself to erase the Wolf from her scent, from her body, from her mind. She could be healed, she _could_ start over. While squirming under his body she could not remember all the pain, she could just go insane, be free, she could just…

 _Love me,_ he completed in his mind. _Let me give you this_.

Kagome was shivering. She wanted to scream, to run, to cry, anything to express the hurricane inside of her chest. She could feel him. _All_ of him, in body and soul. His youki enveloped her completely, clashing like the sea against the rocks, blurring the horizon of what was _him_ and what was _her_. His power mixed with her blood, and she heard the echoes of history lamenting the union, her ancestors grieving her betrayal. Human race turned its back on her, the gods that made them to hate each other cursed them, but she didn't feel lonely anymore.

Two orphans to the world, two shameful sinners, two natural adversaries … but he was there with her.

Kagome smiled, then frowned, then cried. She hated them all for making this forbidden, because how could something so good be so bad?

 _Why did they make us enemies?_

It all came down to that. All the bad things came from her inability to be disgusted by demons. And she realized she had made one more right decision in her life, directly derived from choosing to hide her powers: to refuse to abhor youkai.

 _It's not our fault,_ she hazily thought. _Not our fault. It's theirs_.

She pulled him down for a kiss that this time was tender, and then pressed her forehead to his trembling brow, looking with drugged eyes into the embers of his gaze. "Please," she whimpered. "Please, start moving."

He was shaking in her arms, but complied anyway.

He pulled back little by little and slid away at a painfully slow rhythm, leaving her entirely. She whined, but he kept her from moving forward. He was holding her off the ground by her hips, inclined back, his forehead pressed against the swell of her breasts, in a position that no human could have maintained; half way to be lying on the ground, half way having her riding him.

 _Not human_ , she reminded herself, and fisted her hand on his almost unbraided hair. "More, please!"

His hips shifted, the damp head of his cock nudging her creased entrance, and he teased them both while barely pushing forward, fanning the white hot pleasure she could feel stabbing her stomach. _More_.

She looked up at him, eyes red, jagged cheek stripes, pale skin, silver hair, all the things she did to him; and despite being at his mercy she felt _powerful_.

 _More, more, more, please, stop torturing me_.

Kagome leaned down and bit his shoulder as hard as she could to punish him, until her jaw hurt. His resistant flesh only allowed some blood to reach her taste buds. "Please!" She cried out.

"What do you want from me?" he murmured in her ear, tugging her earlobe gently between his teeth.

She wheezed, defeated, shaking in his arms, but he insisted, because he was not one to relent.

"Kagome, what do you want from me?"

She pressed her cheek against his bleeding flesh. "Everything!"

He thrust into her and she screamed her pleasure.

Hard and fast he dove into her depths, the curvature of his shaft caressing all of her insides, pressing outwards, and her walls clenched, not letting him go. Kagome moved with him, feeling the ties of her anger and hate unknotting until they seemed silly things, unimportant. And when her muscles locked and she came loudly, he kept going, leaning her down on the rug, finishing in that place what he had sworn not to do last April.

The collision of his hips against hers sounded loudly, promising bruises, only below her screams of pain and pleasure. He hate-fucked her, and she did the same. He declared his truth to the world with every stab; that he wanted her for who she was, that he detested her for what she had done, that she was so human and so frail and that she would be gone someday, and that he, too, would die if he could not have _this_. The communion of their beings, the feeling of her energy burning him alive, her eyes, her sweat, her skin, her slick sheath.

What could possibly be out there after _this_?

 _Why do we keep wasting time?_

He plummeted into her body, ripping orgasm after orgasm of her shaking form, feeling their auras dance and mingle and sing. He made love to her, and she did the same. Kagome would later savor the perfection of the experience, of how in so much feral wrath she could be more comfortable than in the gentle touch of a lover who had stabbed her in the back.

But Sesshomaru too, was a traitor.

She screamed and cried and climaxed. For a sacred moment she forgot about all the pain, all the sorrow. She let him heal her because it was only temporary, because when the real world caught up he would still be a man who had hurt her.

 _It doesn't matter. Let me forget what we did. Let me remember who we are. Drive it all away_.

He held her jaw and stared at her with fury and passion, claws teasing her cheek, then tightly gripping an overflowing full breast, never stopping. And the hate was gone, the hurt, the anger, the loneliness. There was nothing but the agony of her orgasms, of her animalistic side that had no time for any worries but that of procreation.

There was nothing but the need of immolation.

"Sesshomaru!" She gasped as if she knew no other word, and he curled around her, suddenly entwining his fingers with her own, his other hand roughly pricking her waist.

He grunted and roared his peak, and after two more fierce lunges, impaling his little human lover with all he had, he spilled into her, his hot seed coating her walls, and her body swallowed him eagerly into her willing womb, searching for a miracle.

Kagome screamed when she felt it, the burning liquid pouring into her, filling her body, and her eyes rolled back in her head. A minute passed.

She looked up at him through half-shut lids.

He shivered, feeling scalding and frozen at the same time. He could almost see their auras fighting and mixing and flaring. It was…

 _Natural_.

The muscles of his neck worked on a hard swallow. He collapsed by her side.

Kagome closed her eyes, semen and her own fluids sliding down her thigh, staining the rug. He was still holding her hand.

She bit her lower lip, hearing the monsoon of the reality of his betrayal looming near.

But before it could wash her away completely, she allowed herself, this time willingly, one last taste of their perfect isolation from the universe.

She turned to him, burnished gold, royal blue, magenta, and silver, panting. She smiled, tears in her eyes. "I still love you," she murmured. And the tempest arrived. "But how could you do it?" Kagome breathed, and she was so empty again, so pained.

 _How could you tell my secret?_

He answered with a soft glance, his thin lips curled upwards. "I didn't."

Kagome gasped in relief. She didn't need to ask anything else. She trusted his word. "Gods, thank you, thank you, thank you…"

Sesshomaru caressed her cheek, then stood out of force of will alone, gathered her in his arms, and strode slowly to the bedroom. "We should rest. Tomorrow, we need to talk."

She nodded against his chest.

In the absolute darkness of his chamber, she felt him deposit her form on the soft bed. He cuddled against her back, and this time she didn't mind it. She let herself be only made of sensations, hugging the arms that hugged her closely to her chest.

"Oh," she then mused sleepily. "I'm still wearing my scarf…"

Sesshomaru laughed.


	13. The Storm, part three: Vedriti

'Being cheerful starts _now'_ , Will thought as hard as he could, but it was like trying to hold a fighting wolf still in his arms when it wanted to claw at his face and tear out his throat; nevertheless, he did it, and he thought no one could see the effort it cost him.

And he knew that Lyra was doing the same, and that the tightness and strain in her smile were the signs of it.

Nevertheless, she smiled.

One last kiss, rushed and clumsy so that they banged cheekbones, and a tear from her eye was transferred to his face; their two daemons kissed farewell, and Pantalaimon flowed over the threshold and up into Lyra's arms; and then Will began to close the window, and then it was done, the way was closed.

Lyra was gone.

"Now-" he said, trying to sound matter-of-fact, but having to turn away from Mary all the same, "I've got to break the Knife."

 _Philip Pullman_ , 'The Amber Spyglass'

* * *

 **Vedriti:** 'Taking shelter until the rain passes'. Slovenian untranslatable word.

* * *

 ** _January the 8_** ** _th_** ** _, Year Two_**

 **The Storm**

 **Part Three: Vedriti**

It would soon be a year.

A year since the night she had first slept with him, even if they didn't have sex. When she curled around his frame, his still cool, damp hair brushing her naked skin, when she slept so soundly she didn't dream, when she woke up and he offered a smile and breakfast.

They were on the same bed. Kagome stared at his sleeping face. He didn't look calm, he just looked dead. If it wasn't for his soft snoring, she could have been fooled.

 _He knows it's coming_ , she told herself.

And then she smiled sadly. _I'm gonna miss you, big dog._

* * *

Sesshomaru awoke with a start and a fistful of cold, empty sheets.

 _She left_ , was the first and only coherent thought that came to his aid. He listened intently, but his apartment answered with absolute silence. In his room, her scent was strong, but old.

 _She_ _ **left**_.

How could she!? After last night, after the fight, the sex, after telling him she still loved him…

 _She left_ _ **again!**_

He snarled, tangled a hand in his bangs, growling louder by the minute.

"Fool," he hissed. "Fool!"

He had promised himself, he have _sworn_ it was over, that their relationship could be nothing but platonic. And he had lost control over jealousy, like a teenaged pup defending his territory, like a boy who didn't know better.

And now Kagome was _gone_ and…!

The perfume of coffee caressed his nose like a promise.

He ran.

Kagome almost jumped right out of her skin when he dashed into the kitchen. They stared at each other with big, confused eyes. She was wearing a wet towel around her body, he was completely naked.

She tightened her grip around the steaming mug she held in her hands, which had almost fallen when he showed up so suddenly. "Umh… s'everything alright?"

He was panting. A hard swallow. "I thought… I thought…"

She blinked. "You thought I wouldn't save you any coffee? Don't worry, I'll pour you a cup."

He looked stricken aback, and then he stared after her while Kagome served the dark liquid. He _still_ couldn't believe this girl.

She added a single spoon of sugar, just the way he liked it, and passed it to the very nude taiyoukai, who was lowering himself on a stool next to the breakfast bar.

Three of sugar, a quarter cup of cream, cinnamon if possible –and it was actually the only reason why the spice could be found in his house, because he hated it. He, too, knew how she liked her coffee.

He looked at her. She had clearly woken up and showered, then came to the kitchen and took care of breakfast. She was flushed from her bath, damp, black hair framing her face, and in her hands there was the mug that said 'PINT-SIZED MAYHEM' in a purple font with a small danger symbol. A mug that he had given her for her birthday last September, by the way, when she had insisted on not accepting any expensive or ostentatious gifts.

Her mug. That remained in his house.

His tongue tangled with all the things he wanted to say and he wanted to keep quiet. Truth was, he just wished to pause, right there, winter morning, snow outside, warm thanks to the heating system, foggy windows, naked, having coffee in the kitchen with her, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Everything about Kagome was so easy. Everything except the world. When no one else existed and it was just them, away from the universe, it was the most natural of experiences.

 _The problem lies in the circumstances._

She looked at him in the eye, and she seemed serious, dreadful, even miserable. Her lips parted to talk.

"Don't," he interrupted, a clawed hand gesturing for her to stop. "Are you almost done with your coffee?"

She felt confused. "Barely started, why?"

He smiled. "Pretend with me."

"Huh?"

"Let's pretend everything is fine for as long as these cups of coffee last. Then, we can discuss all the things that are important."

His smirk was so sad.

"In the meanwhile, just pretend with me."

Her lips trembled but she didn't cry. "Okay."

And they chatted, and joked, and Kagome marveled at the magical power a cup of coffee seemed to have if applied right. The raspy flavor slid down her throat and warmed her soul. Everything was perfect, just because she could allow herself to ignore all the things that were wrong for a moment.

Sesshomaru cherished the minutes that slid away. He knew that, after today, this wouldn't happen again and, across the centuries, he had learnt to enjoy 'last times'.

His coffee went cold in his mug. And although it wasn't like him to delay the inevitable, just for once, he preferred it this way.

Kagome was finishing with a story when she giggled and sighed, staring down at her mug.

The way her expression shifted and saddened told him it was time.

He finished his cup with a slow, final sip.

She exhaled and looked out the window. "Ok, so…"

He remained quiet.

She forced herself to gather the strength. This had to be done. This had to be said.

"You were right, you know?"

A sigh.

"Earlier, while I was showering, I started thinking. And you're right, I do hurt myself all the time, or clear the way for others to do it. I was wondering why do I do that, and maybe it's because my family and, damn, _everyone_ has been telling me for years I'm disgusting and depraved and abnormal… And maybe I'm just punishing myself because I believe them."

She smiled sadly. "I really need to see a therapist, don't I?"

He refrained from commenting. No, he didn't believe she needed anyone's help. Only her own.

Kagome continued rambling.

"Koga… I think you deserve to know, because damn, I'd want to know if I were you. He, shit, he found me on Miroku's webpage, wasn't sure of how I'd react to see him… He came up with this whole plan, had us dress up in a festival so people wouldn't recognize him and wouldn't mind a human girl running off with a youkai, that is, if I decided to follow him, I mean… Shit… He's mated, you know? Married to a youkai she wolf. And I was ok with that, because I knew he didn't love her."

She swallowed thickly and tears welled up in her eyes. Sesshomaru remained stonily silent.

"If he'd been forced to that life and hated it, I'd be ok with that, because he didn't have a way out, do you know what I mean? I'm not _dumb_ , I know he had a _choice_ , but how much of a choice was it? He's a wolf, is it fair to ask him to give up his pack?"

Kagome's hands tightened around her mug.

"He's got a son…"

The taiyoukai's eyes narrowed in fury, but he still said nothing.

"A child and one on the way. You know what pissed me off the most?" She grid her teeth. "His wife got pregnant like a month before we started seeing each other, I mean… Their relationship wasn't _that bad_ then, you know?"

She peeked at him. Sesshomaru didn't look aloof or uninterested, just waiting. Processing. Kagome sighed.

"So, he didn't love his wife, but he did love his pups. And… I couldn't do that to them. He didn't want me in his children's life, so I was basically just 'the other woman' and nothing more."

She bit her lip. "Koga was always like that. He's stubborn, wants it all. He didn't want his kids to know he's with a human… Said he had to 'set an example for them'… That just hurt, you know? I could've understood he was ashamed of me for being an escort, but not for being a human… We were supposed to be the best of friends, and screw what they think about humans and demons together, just…"

She sniffed. "It just hurt a lot. To know he thinks the same way as them."

Kagome smiled and shrugged. "But I think it's good, you know? Closure and all that. Got to yell at him. Of course now I need to find a new apartment because that argument was _way too loud_. Tip me off if you find any good places near my school, would you?"

"You could stay here," Sesshomaru finally interjected. She started, surprised, and he continued. "There are several empty apartments in the building. I believe you would find them acceptable."

She looked at him with big, incredulous eyes that soon narrowed in pain while she shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "When I started falling for you… I mean…" She groaned. "I mean, you said 'stop thinking' and I tried, but… You said you knew 'why not', and I also realized…"

Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "You keep saying 'mine, mine', and that's the point, you know? I'm in love with you, and _fuck_ whatever people say, but the real, _actual_ problem is that _you_ don't love me _back_."

His eyes narrowed but he remained mute. Kagome refused to meet his eyes. "You just want to own me. You keep trying and trying to get power over me somehow, like right now, see? All the time it's about you, defeating me or conquering me or making me do whatever you want."

He frowned. "You mistake owning with belonging. I firmly believe you belong with me. In a sense you are mine, just as, in a sense, I am yours."

She scowled. "Yours? Your _what_?"

He blinked lazily at her, like she had just asked a very dumb question. "My Kagome."

Her lips tightened in a firm line, unshed salt shimmering in her eyelashes. "And what does that mean?"

"I told you it means enjoyment. You enjoy spending your time with me, and I enjoy spending my time with you. We, by some chance, work _well_ together. Isn't that enough?"

"Of course not! You…" She sighed. "How can I expect you to understand? You're youkai…" Kagome rubbed her eyes with thumb and forefinger. "Time means too much for us humans. I can't _waste_ my time being your permanent hooker. It doesn't work like that."

Sesshomaru's frown became hurt. Her words seemed to have struck a nerve. "I never treated you as such. Never, except for the night we met, and I believed I had paid that debt."

He didn't flinch when Kagome's fist collided loudly with the black bar, but it still surprised him. "You might be nice about it, but I still get my check every week! I'm your whore, what's worse; I'm your _personal_ whore. You can't be my sugar daddy, Sesshomaru, goddamn it! And you _clearly_ can't handle it when I spend my time with another guy trying to get myself a _real_ relationship!"

"This arrangement has been enough for almost a year. What has changed?"

"I did! I'm not settling anymore. Not for Koga, not for you. I won't let you _own me_."

There was a second of silence, and Kagome tried to calm herself. "Look, just… What do you think is gonna happen? Eventually, I'm going to grow old, and you're gonna get tired of me. So you're gonna keep me on an allowance out of reminiscence for our good days past? And what is there for me? What do I get? Where's my happiness, what life did I live in the end?"

She stared at her fingers pressed against the cold, black marble of the breakfast bar. "If we could pause here, I'd be ok with that, but humans don't get to _pause_. We're dying since we're born, and a wasted second isn't coming back. We can't really make up for the lost time…"

Her palms pressed against her face and she tried not to cry or scream. "If I let you provide for me, I'd still be a hooker. Only sadder and without any other options."

She took a shuddering breath. "I need more."

Sesshomaru's hands gently took hold of her wrists and separated her palms from her face. He asked, almost begged. "What else do you want from me?"

Kagome stared into his golden eyes and pain drew lines on her face that made her look so much frailer while her tears fell. "Tell me you love me and I'll stay. You just have to say it."

And it happened. His honor didn't let him lie, her pride didn't let her accept it. He didn't answer.

After a long, agonizing silence, Kagome finally smiled miserably, sniffing her crying away. "That's ok… That's ok, I understand. I wouldn't love me, either."

"No, you _don't_ understand. I care about you, Kagome, with my life. But I _am_ youkai. We do not experience things as humans do."

She pulled herself away from his touch slowly, and it hurt, like she was extirpating herself from his life. "I don't believe you. Maybe he did it wrong, but I _have_ been loved by a youkai." She swallowed. "I know you care about me. You always came back, and you were right about that, too. It's unfair of me to keep on waiting for you to be the one to make the call of fixing things or apologizing… But that doesn't mean you love me. That's just you. You're used to a different lifestyle. I understand. But understand when I say I can't stay. I can't let you be my alpha, my provider. I need you… to be more _human_ with me, don't you see?"

Silence.

"Being in love with you is a bad idea," she said with a dry, humorless chuckle.

He closed his eyes, trying to erase the pain those words elicited. "Then leave."

Kagome remained there for a few more moments, but he didn't glance her way anymore.

Sesshomaru heard her soft footfalls crossing the apartment, heard the whisper of her underwear, her skirt, her trench coat, her scarf. He remembered he had ruined her stocking last night and thought she'd be cold walking in the snow outside.

He stood and walked to the intercom by the door of the kitchen. He requested a card to be ready for her, and didn't wait for the employee on the other side of the line to answer.

Instead, he listened to the faucet running in his bathroom, and the soft, soft sobs it camouflaged. He heard her splash water on her face and gather her strength to leave the apartment, and his life.

Sesshomaru walked to his bedroom, and heard the spike in her breath. She was on the other side of that door, knew he was changing now.

Maybe she was waiting for him to come in, to beg her not to go.

He considered the possibility as he buttoned up his white shirt.

But he didn't beg, and she didn't ask him to.

After several minutes, Kagome walked out of the bathroom, eyes red from so much crying.

She found him on his desk, the door of his study wide open. He was reading the reports he had abandoned the previous day with her arrival.

It hurt, to see him ignore her. But in a way, she understood. She was already gone, so what was the point in pretending he could do something to make her stay?

She leaned on the doorframe, shouldering her purse.

Kagome almost, _almost_ stepped in the room, allured by the tickle of youki and the sight of him, elbows on the desk, papers on each hand, feigning she was irrelevant and he wasn't so vulnerable. She _almost_ let herself kiss him goodbye, or kiss him and not leave at all. Maybe they could pretend forever, maybe if they just lied long enough, it would become the truth.

But she didn't.

"Goodbye, Sesshomaru," she whispered.

The door clicked closed, the sound of her steps disappeared, giving place for the whisper of the descending elevator.

Sesshomaru lowered the reports and stared at the empty hallway where she had been standing in moments ago.

He stayed there, frozen, hours after she left. Finally he dragged himself from the tomb of his mind, from the carcass of his body, across the empty apartment into the kitchen. His clawed hands took hold of the dirty mugs to deposit them in the sink.

Then he saw it.

Kagome's cup was still almost half full.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Just when you thought I died.

*massive yawn* hello, hello, yes, good morning, it's 6 am, and I wrote this chapter because...

Shit, because TODAY I felt I COULD.

Don't worry, I'm definitely NOT abandoning this story. I just wanted to focus on other projects I have (who am I kidding, I was procrastinating like a baws)

But, seriously, I haven't been ALL that absent lately. I actually corrected a LOT in this fic, and will probably retouch Chapter 2, adding one or two pages soon.

I also started writing this Fallout: New Vegas fanfiction, and let me tell you, it's GOOD. It's a very strange concept I'm working with; the story starts around chapter 130, and we don't read it in chronological order, we find out what happened to make the situation what it is by chapter 130 going back and forth in the timeline, to finally go all the way to chapter 1, and then to the final chapters. Plus the main character is a big fat liar, so you never know if she's telling the truth. So, since I can't contradict myself in this whole mess, I gotta write the whole thing before publishing it! Big ass project, at least 150 chapters.

There's also The Storyteller, which is getting into the COMPLICATED part of the story where I have to fill 100 years of everyday life, and it's messing me up. That shit is HARD!

So, since Strictly Business isn't my pride and joy (trust me, TS has a far more detailed and complex plot, it just has all the classic rookie mistakes at the beginning before I figured out how to write) I tend to not prioritize it.

That DOESN'T MEAN I'M ABANDONING IT, PEOPLE!

The quote at the beginning of this chapter (notice now all of the chapters have quotes) is from The Amber Spyglass, the third and last part of the His Dark Materials trilogy which, I must say, MADE ME CRY MY EYES OFF LIKE A LITTLE BITCH, WHAT THE FUCK, PULLMAN, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?

Read those books if you get the chance. Although I pretty much just screwed up the ending for you. Haha.

As a final note, old, fake chapter 13 (the April Fools joke) has been deleted and shall be posted as a standalone for people who want to read it.

You know the drill, readers! Reviews, shares, fan art, death threats, yada yada, I'll take everything with open arms. Except dog poop, ew.

Love for y'all, and if you get the chance, re-read the fic because I changed a shit lot of stuff!

~Agustina


	14. Echoing Hallways, The Fifth Essential

...You master the art of slipping away by starting small.  
Fix your body clock so you always wake up first,  
plot escape route like past time,  
force your heart to beat;  
just go,  
just go,  
just…

Practice on the ones you love most,  
that way nothing can hurt you.  
You cannot break a mangled thing  
and you don't know the last time your heart  
sounded like a heart...

...When boys begin searching for hospital room hearts  
you warn them yours is a broken glass bottle.  
They don't care,  
or they don't hear you.  
They cut themselves on sharp tongues  
trying to make finger paintings  
with the blood on their hands,  
make it sound so beautiful  
you almost believe them.

 _Almost._

Soon you know they will wake up with scars and blame you  
so you leave them a bandage in the dark and don't look back.

 _Leave, before they realize you are not worth scarring for._

...You see every outstretched hand  
as a palm preparing to drown you,  
so you sink further underwater  
and ignore the burning in your chest.  
Run your fingers over every name that  
has left your mouth for the last time and  
tell your self you have done the right thing.

 ** _Bianca Phipps_ , 'The ****Heartbreaker Poem'.**

* * *

 ** _April the 22_** ** _nd_** ** _, Year Four_**

 **Echoing Hallways**

 **(Also known as 'The Fifth Essential: Pepper Spray')**

He knew she knew he was watching.

He was actually surprised he had smelled her at all. Coming back from a meeting, taking a shortcut, the window down, the cloudy night blanketing the south of Tokyo. The bar, not as bad as the worst but definitely not what she deserved or he was used to.

And he caught her scent in the air, like a stab from the Ghost of Fucking Christmas Past: unforeseen and unbridled.

He could only come up with two possible explanations.

One, she frequented this bar enough to leave the imprint of her perfume past the very door, saturating the air with her essence.

Two, he had been looking for her, knowingly or not.

He wasn't sure which one distressed him more.

How long had it been anyway? Did he really need to fool himself pretending he hadn't been counting the seconds? That he hadn't played that last conversation over and over in his head trying to understand what she needed and how to give it to her?

Hadn't he knocked on her door, once, months and months ago, only to find she had already moved out?

Kagome swallowed another gush of alcohol, the dull burning sliding down her throat, hiding in the corner, but not so easy to ignore. Just there, radiating in her own way, even with those bags under her eyes, even with her greasy hair clinging to her face, with her chapped lips.

Sesshomaru's clenched fist trembled. He had never seen her so vulnerable.

It was a youkai bar, and Kagome… oh, _Kagome…_

 _Why do you keep trying to feel at home in enemy territory…?_

There were three demons leaning in front of her, cornering her, only the rest of the span of her cubicle keeping them from touching her.

Sesshomaru could hear them, using rash words. Before the taiyoukai entered they probably were playfully asking what was a human girl like her doing so far away from human grounds. Now they just kept on taunting her, asking if she was deaf or just retarded, telling her she should reply when a question was asked.

And Sesshomaru knew that between the bulk of all three male bodies, she could probably catch a glimpse of him, and if she didn't she still could feel him all the same.

She was there, being belittled and harassed, absolutely mute, the taiyoukai staring scarce paces away…

He wondered, briefly, if Kagome was wishing he wasn't there to see this, or if on the contrary she wanted him to watch…

"Can smell cum on that pretty mouth of ya," one said, a fire youkai. " _Demon_ cum. You a freak or somethin'? Wanna suck me off, too?"

When he heard her response, he felt his bile rise.

"¥5,000; upfront."

It was the _way_ she said it. So matter-of-factly. So _detached_.

Whoever the **fuck** was that woman, it did _not_ sound like Kagome.

He had never felt disgusted by her. She was an escort; he knew that, damn it all, he _did_. But she always had her integrity, her rules. She would _never_ let such lowly _filth_ refer to her in such way. She would _never_ let that kind of animal _touch her_ …

Kagome's face remained blank when the three youkai whooped and continued taunting her, leaning closing and rubbing her shoulder. One of them palmed his crotch. Another, fondled her breast.

They started repeating "Come with us, we'll have fun, bathroom's over there…", "think you can take three cocks at once?", "little thirsty cunt's gonna get some poundin'…"

She just leaned back a little and said nothing, sipping from her bottle, eyes as hollow as a doll's.

Sesshomaru's blood stopped running when she softly and calmly said, "Sure, why not. ¥30,000."

And she stood up. She _stood up_ and shouldered her bag. Waiting for her pay, body turned away from him…

Red began bleeding into the taiyoukai's sclerae.

He hated himself for what he did next.

Nothing.

His jaw set, and his eyes burnt through her body. But he did _nothing_.

It had been _years_ since he last had held contact with the woman he once called his. And now, knowing he was there, she didn't even acknowledged him, didn't even _glance_ his way.

He had imagined… _fantasized_ about finding her by chance again.

She should be throwing herself into his embrace, or crying, or running away.

 _Anything at all_ but pretending, once more, he was an absolute stranger.

He stood there, watching as she bargained for her body, how she risked being ripped to shreds by these predators just for…

 _Money_ …!

The sole _idea_ suddenly seemed so _ludicrous_ to him. There she was, giving absolutely anything anyone asked, just for a fistful or pieces of paper.

Sesshomaru had lived long enough to see empires rise and fall, to see gold lose and gain value, to see markets crumble, famines and wars, to see families selling their children, to see…

But it was now that he fathomed just how _little_ these silly little pieces of paper meant.

"C'mon, baby, let's have some fun, promise you'll like it."

"Money upfront."

"Don't be such a bitch, we'll pay up, just don't have that kind of cash on us."

"Go to an ATM, I'll be here."

"You playing hard to get now, little whore!?"

A clawed hand grasped her wrist.

"You don't say _no_ to us."

A pull.

"We'll get going now, and you'll have fun, got it?"

" ** _HEY_**."

One of the bartenders growled from behind the counter, a phone tight in his grasp.

"Fuck off this second or the bouncer's having your ass."

"Shut your fucking mouth, man, stay out of this."

"Yeah, none of your fucking business…"

Without hesitation, the employee dialed three numbers on the phone. "Yeah, 118? Got a situation, three youkai causing trouble-"

" _Fuck you_ ," hissed one of the demons, toppling a chair over with a smash, walking out, followed by the other two.

The bartender continued on the phone for a little while longer before hanging up.

"Tsk, hey, you too get outta here, slut. We no whorehouse," he snarled when he noticed Kagome was taking her seat again.

Her expression didn't even flicker. She just gathered her stuff and scurried away, passing just by Sesshomaru's side, without sparing him a single glance.

He remained rooted in place, his whole being vibrating in anger and despair.

 _Fuck_ , he wanted to tear someone apart, his claws itching to rip anyone's throat.

He wanted to chase her, yell and scream at her for… for…

Because when he stepped out of his car he had expected…

…

Just what the _fuck_ was he expecting…!?

He shook his head because it didn't matter anymore. This was just some stupid coincidence, a _mistake_ from his part for just thinking, for _wishing_ she had forgotten about the things she had said two years ago, for missing her and wanting to see her…

Taisho Sesshomaru set his jaw and ignored the few patrons glancing sideways at the strange and powerful taiyoukai standing by the door.

He took a deep breath and checked his clock.

As he schooled his expression into one of perfect neutrality, he exited the bar.

Outside the night was still cold.

He would have to check those lab reports and have his secretary schedule a meeting…

Sharp laughter pierced the air.

Sesshomaru's head whipped to the side. Around the corner, a male was cackling.

He heard a soft huff, and something heavy falling.

He _sprinted_.

In a fraction of a second he had pulled an arm out of its socket and his other hand was tearing at a shoulder.

"DON'T KILL THEM!," Kagome shouted from the floor, blood spilling from her nose.

The taiyoukai stilled midair, staring at her in disbelief. She had been followed, these three pieces of _shit_ had intended to _rape her_ …

His eyes lost their red hue as he dropped the torn arm to the floor.

The three demons screamed and scrambled away, leaving behind a trail of blood but not glancing back.

Sesshomaru and Kagome remained locked in place, both refusing to be the first to look away.

Was it insane that he wanted to hold her and kiss her even now?

 _Even now_?

Time always meant so little to him.

Kagome's face was pale and sweaty. Her pupils focused and unfocused.

The taiyoukai spoke.

"How long…?"

Her minute frown was the only indication she had heard.

He rephrased. "How long since you last ate?"

Her eyes narrowed, growing sharper.

"A day. Maybe two. Makes it easier to get drunk."

 _Bullshit_ …

The night roared with a thunder and rain began to fall.

 _Of course_ it did.

Kagome remained in place, water sliding across her face, making her squint and shake.

And Sesshomaru was a cruel, calculating, heartless creature.

But not enough.

Not with her.

And he hated himself because he still _cared_.

He shed his suit jacket and knelt in front of her, draping it around and over her, sheltering her from the rain.

Her lips tightened.

"What are you doing, Sesshomaru?" She said softly. "What are you doing?"

"I never know with you," he answered tenderly.

"Please don't do this to me. Don't do this to me again."

"Let me take you home. My car is parked just around the corner. I could not forgive myself if I left you like this."

She shook her head gently and, carefully recovering from being thrown against a wall, stood.

"Think ahead, please. Do you think anything good can come out of this? Thank you for helping me, but you need to go. You need to go _now_."

"I do not _want to_."

She rubbed her face, trembling maybe from the cold, the rain, the fear, the shock, the pain, the frustration.

"Please just let me walk away. I gotta go home."

" _No_."

"Sesshomaru, let-" she tried to sidestep him, but he moved and blocked her way again. "Let. Me. _Go_."

"No."

"Why are you doing this to me!? Why…!?"

Her voice cracked.

"Why _today_ …? Why _you_ of all people…?"

She lowered her eyes and hugged herself.

Sesshomaru left his jacket covering her head, like a shroud, and leaned down to pick up her bag and its spilled contents, noting the small can of pepper spray she had been looking for as she was attacked had rolled next to the discarded severed arm. The youkai would survive, but the scar would last him a lifetime.

He stood up again.

"Let me get you home safe. And I'll go. I promise. On my honor."

She took a slow breath and she looked just _so tired_. So hollow.

So she just yielded.

"Let's get this over with," she murmured, quietly.

He smiled, _genuinely smiled_.

"Thank you.

He refrained from touching her again as they walked towards his car.

They drove away, golden city lights like a heartbeat keeping a rhythm overhead as they left them behind, and Kagome nestled against the passenger door, eyelids heavy and breathing shallow.

"I killed a man today," she whispered.

And then fell asleep.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Told you I hadn't dropped this story.

My favorite number is 22. This story got its 222nd review and thought you guys deserved a chapter.

~Gus


	15. The Closest I Ever Got To Having Peace

Tell me that you turned down the man  
Who asked for your hand  
'Cause you're waiting for me  
And I know, you're gonna be away a while  
But I've got no plans at all to leave...

... And would you take away my hopes and dreams and just stay with me?

All my senses come to life  
While I'm stumbling home as drunk as I  
Have ever been and I'll never leave again  
'Cause you are the only one  
And all my friends have gone to find  
Another place to let their hearts collide  
Just promise me, you'll always be a friend  
'Cause you are the only one…

 _ **Ed Sheeran,**_ **'One'.**

* * *

 ** _April the 30th, Year Four_**

 **The Closest I Ever Got To Having Peace**

Sesshomaru sat in his car, _wasting time_ … Again.

His eyes were fixed on the small building. Not even close to the city, but still the rent must have been expensive.

Over a week ago he had heard her whisper the address, and he had taken her there.

As soon as the car ceased moving, before he could even stop the engine, before he could turn and see her in the yellow light distorted by the running rainwater on the windshield, before he could ask _why_ and _what_ and _how_ …

She unbuckled the belt and walked away. Slowly. Unhurriedly. She pulled out her keys, opened the door, entered the building…

She didn't look back.

Sesshomaru remained there, stunned, _seething_.

How _dare_ she!? How… that ungrateful…!

But he left. Because he promised he would. He reluctantly found the pedal and drove away, streets morphing from dark alleys to lit highways to the radiant Tokyo where he resided.

And he should have left it at that.

He should have forgotten about her. She was no longer his problem, no longer his responsibility…

Had she ever been in the first place?

Sesshomaru had not _paced_ nor had he _sighed_. His shoulders remained squared, his professional performance impeccable.

His mind, however, was _reeling._

There was no superior force, no thread of fate, no primal calling. He kept thinking of Kagome still. Kept thinking of her dirty clothes and her growling stomach, of her scrapped knees and her shallow breathing.

She was hungry and weak. What if the rain had made her sick?

 _I killed a man today_.

And what was that supposed to mean? Was she talking about the youkai he had mutilated? Was it guilt he had been wounded in her defense? No, not that. Kagome knew better than to assume a severed arm would end a youkai's life.

So what could she possibly mean…?

Was it…

Was it literal…?

Had Kagome literally killed a man?

Why? Had he hurt her? Had he attacked her? Had he offended her? Did she need legal counseling? Where to hide?

… Help to dispose of the body!?

He would have helped. He would have. Because somehow, for some wretched miracle, he cared. He still cared. Out of all the thousands of humans that lived and died every day, he cared about _her_ life. _Her_ wellbeing.

Why? Why did he? She was just another prostitute. Just another human. Just a replaceable-

He growled and felt his chest constrict under the weight of the lie.

He attributed it to his ego.

Because Taisho Sesshomaru did _not_ entangle with whores. He did not require such trivial pleasures. He would never stoop as low as to _pay_ for _sex_ , so it must have _meant_ something, right? This overwhelming sense of ownership was related to his need to prove that he was above such undignified actions.

He did not _groan_ , simply closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose.

…

He started again.

There was truth in that idea. That Taisho Sesshomaru would _never_ pay for _sex_ …

He was, however, not above paying for a woman's company.

He considered that concept. _Company_. What did Kagome's _company_ involve?

Taking a moment to remember, he realized something.

He remembered her blue eyes, the creases and patterns of her irises, her dark pupils, her black lashes, the small lines at the sides of those eyes when she laughed.

Without fail, he could have drawn them from memory.

It meant she _looked at him in the eye_. Often enough for him to learn them, to memorize them.

Kagome never cowered before him. She wasn't scared. She understood the dangers he posed and still decided to face him as an equal.

There was a power play between the two of them. An understanding that they could kill each other without breaking a sweat and he was just not used to that. To be fond with a possible adversary. To decide to lower his weapons for the sake of closeness with a worthy enemy.

Kagome was a miko that surrounded herself with demons.

And what a concept that was. What a stranger creature, what a wild spirit, to choose to build bridges when she belonged to a breed that burned them.

She wanted to be a diplomat. A nexus, a link between two species so intrinsically divided that cooperation and coexistence sometimes seemed laughable.

He remembered the night when he met her. And how sure she was of her mission. How tightly she held onto that dream.

Human and youkai always interacted in a seesaw of power and authority. Youkai Control Agents loomed as a threat over the demonic population, only refraining from extinguishing the whole kind given that they lacked the numbers.

And then there was Kagome, who had clawed at his back, had surrendered under his weight, even as she could bring an end to him with a touch of her hand.

Sometimes he forgot how brave she was.

 _Kagome's company_ …

It was more than the things they did or the ways in which they spend their time. It was more than the sex or the talks or the support or the…

He reflected on all the times they did nothing, the negative spaces between moments.

And he realized he liked those the most.

When they drove in his car, when they lay in bed, when they had breakfast, when they walked together…

All the silences, all the comfortable ways in which they did _nothing_. When they met in the afternoons during finals, how she would curl on his couch studying while he worked, just… just _there_ and how much he adored that comfort. Of having to prove nothing, of being nothing but his purest self, coexisting there, with her, in balance, with a peace that generations upon generations had denied could ever happen.

Because it was almost a miracle she had made possible solely through her choice of not… harming him.

…

So he cared.

He cared about her because there was nobody like her. In all the ways she was ordinary, she was also extraordinary, and he _cared_ because…

Because he…

He missed his friend.

…

Sesshomaru sat in his car, _wasting time_ … Again.

Because he wanted to knock on her door and say that he didn't need the sex, that he didn't miss the _sex_ , but that he missed _her_ and her presence and her stupid, unremarkable, incredible, perfect way of being her.

And he wanted to protect that. Protect that miracle because how often could something like that happen?

Every second he spend not _telling her_ was a wasted second.

How was he supposed to tell her? Just knock, yes, hello, you're my friend, perhaps my only friend, and I care about you, and I miss you, and I'm worried, and I'd just wish you stopped pushing me away because I don't understand the things you need from me simply because what you ask is not something that I've seen and isn't this a way of loving you? Isn't this _my_ way of loving you? Isn't this enough? I will protect you and cherish you and I'll make all your troubles go away if you let me take care of you and-

And…

And this was not going to work.

Sesshomaru, once more, did _not_ groan.

It was the third time in a week that he had stayed in his car in front of her building, just… hopping to run into her just so he could explain that he _cared_ and-

But she left early in the morning and returned late at night. And he always made sure to leave before she arrived.

He pressed the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

What a waste of his precious time, he should be worki-

The taiyoukai only realized just how _deeply_ invested in his thoughts he was when someone knocked on his car's window, startling him out of his musings.

A red, angular face greeted him, tusks and horns curving up and away from the car window. His yellow eyes were bright and open, almost childlike, even as his massive height crunched to be able to see inside the vehicle. Sesshomaru refrained from growling his way.

He simply waited, staring him down. Eventually the other male would leave him alone. But then, faintly, he recognized the wisp of a scent.

His own golden gaze widened minutely.

Slowly his hand moved to make the window roll down.

In a fraction of a second, he was hit full force by the scent.

Kagome.

 _This youkai smells of Kagome._

All over. He couldn't even distinguish where it came from. He was bathed in her scent, as if he had nested in her very form.

Sesshomaru remained frozen in place even as the white haired oni opened his mouth and spoke.

"Umh… Sesshomaru-sama, is there anything I can help you with?"


End file.
